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loj  tjic  Samf  Gutter. 


THE      LIFE      AND     TIMES 

OF 

Sir  Philip  Sidney. 

^■1  Meviorial  of  one  7v/iose  name  is  a  Sytiotiym  for     I 
every  Manly  Vi'rtite.  \ 

By  Mrs.   S.   M.   Henry  Davis.  i 

Illustrated  with  Three  Steel  Plates  : 
Portrait  of  Sidney  ; 

View  of  Penshurst  Castle  ; 

Fac-Simile  of  Sidney's  Manuscript. 

i2mo.     Cloth,  bevelled,  stamped  in  ink  and  gold  with      i 
Sidney's  Coat  of  Arms,  $1.50.  | 


FORDS,    HOWARD,    &    HULBERT, 

Publishers.  New  York. 


Norway  Nights 

1^  RtLSsiari  Days, 


SKJAKGC.KDALSFOS 


Frontispiece, 


A^orway  Nights 

^  Ritssian  Days, 


BY 


S.    M.    HENRY    DAVIS, 

AUTHOR    OF    "life    AND    TIMES    OF    SIR    PHILIP    SIDNEY.' 


tili)  ^^umcrous  3llustrations. 


Norzvegian  Peasant. 


NEW   YORK: 
FORDS,    HOWARD,   &   HULBERT. 

1887. 


Copyright,  in  1887, 
By  S.  M.  Henry  Davis. 


2ro 

/  INSCRIBE    THIS  RECORD   OF  A 
PL  EA  SA  N T  SUMMER   TO UR. 


CONTENTS. 


NOR  IV A  V  NIGHTS. 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


I.  Setting  Out '7 

II.  Christiama, 28 

III.  The  Gudhransdal 53 

IV.  The  Romsdal, 92 

V.  Trondhjem 118 

VI.  The  Arctic  Ocean, 129 

VII.   Hammerfest, 155 

VIII.   North  Cape  and  Midni(;ht  Son,    ...  162 

IX.  The  Return  Voyage 171 

X.    '^WY.Y.VtYM  {Par  Pare n these) iSi 

XI.    Y\':^\.K^\i  {An  Episode), 202 

RUSSIAN  DAYS. 
I.   St.   Petersburg 213 

The  Shops  :  The  Cathedral :   Palaces  and  Museums. 

II.  Moscow, 262 

The  Streets:  The  Kremlin  :  The  Kremlin— Palaces  : 
The  Kremlin— Churches  :  Russian  Monastic  Insti- 
tutions •  In  General. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NORWAY    NIGHTS. 

PAGE 

Skjaeggedalsfos, Frontispiece 

Norse  Viking  Galley, i6 

Ancient  Church — Hitterdal, 38 

Old  Norwegian  Silver  Brooch, 40 

Remains  of  Viking  Ship— Showing  Shields,  ...  44 

Remains  of  Viking  Ship — Starboard, 48 

Norwegian  Kariol, 5g 

Peasant  Woman — Holiday  Dress, 68 

Kitchen  at  Stueflatten, 89 

Church  in  Gudbransdal, 97 

Geiranger  Fiord, 108 

In  Trondhjem  Cathedral, 122 

Apse  of  St.  Olaf's  Cathedral, 126 

Laplander, 148 

Lapp  Wedding  Ring, 150 

Lapp  Woman  and  Baby, 153 

Hammerfest, 159 

Midnight  Sun— North  Cape, 166 

Trollhatten  Falls — Sweden 186 

Swedish  Peasant  and  Baby,     .........  loi 

Dalecarlian  (Swedish)  Costume, igg 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


RUSSIAN    DAYS. 

PAGE 

A  Russian  Church 212 

Russian  Coachman 2i3 

Cossack  Officer, 225 

The  Neva — The  Bridge — St.  Isaac's 231 

The  Kremlin — Moscow 261 

Russian  Costume  (Woman) 265 

Russian  Peasant 267 

Wine  Seller  in  Moscow  Market 271 

Game  Vendor  in  Moscow  Market, 275 

Ivan  Tower.  Kremlin, 281 

Spasski  (Redeemer)  Gate,  Kremlin, 286 

Cathedral  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel,  Kremlin,  .  303 

Church  of  St.  Basil 317 

L'henre  qui piait  a  7'otre  Majeste, 325 


NORWAY    NIGHTS. 


NORWAY   NIGHTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 


SETTING    OUT. 


"  Thor  had  two  ravens,  Hugin  and  Mugin,  who  flew  all  over 
the  world  and  brought  him  news  from  every  quarter." 

T  N  defiance  of  the  conservative  old  adage,  a  party 
A  of  three  rolling  stones  started  out  to  gather 
n:ioss  in  Norway  and  its  adjacent  countries. 
Moreover,  they  did  gather  it  :  rich,  vivid,  aro- 
matic, health-giving  to  mind  and  body,  joy  in 
acquisition,  a  treasure  in  memory. 

The  progress  of  the  travellers  developed  har- 
mony of  purpose,  of  disposition,  and  of  taste  ; 
and  the  tour  was  also  singularly  favored  by  the  ele- 


1 8  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

inenls  ami  bv  circuinsuinccs  :  no  cold,  no  lieal  ; 
tinich-  showers,  but  not  one  clay  of  rain  ;  no  failure 
to  meet  trains  or  steamers  :  the  best  rooms  in  the 
best  hotels  :  obli<^ing  landlords  and  civil  attendants 
everywhere.  They  had  wisely  started  early  in  the 
season,  before  managers  became  excited  and  ser- 
vants overworked  by  the  pressure  of  tourists, 
\vhile  rooms  were  fresh  and  visitors  fair  to  behold. 
Bui  yet  more  of  their  comfort  was  due  to  the 
good  and  kindly  nature  of  the  Scandinaxians 
whose  territor\-  they  invaded.  Anglo-Saxons  of 
to-clay  are  {)aying  back  the  incursions  of  the  old 
Norse  j)irates  a  thousand  years  ago,  but  with  bet- 
ter feeling  on  both  sides. 

This  pleasant  journe}-  of  three  women — neither 
"lone"  nor  "lorn" — began  the  lirst  day  of  [une, 
|8S6.  There  is  a  choice  in  the  liquid  j)aths  to 
Norwaw  ( )ne  is  from  Hull  or  Newcastle  in 
Kngland  by  the  North  Sea  to  Bergen  ;  another,  in 
smoother    waters,    from      Danish    Copenhagen    to 


RBC 


SETJ'IXG    OUT.  19 


C'hristiania  ;  and  a  third  line  of  steamers,  swift 
and  well  appointed,  has  lately  been  built  to  sail 
from  Aberdeen  to  the  western  coast  o{  Norwav, 
taking  in  the  principal  places  there,  and  also  run- 
ning away  up  to  liie  North  Cape. 

It  pleased  us  l)etter,  with  perhaps  an  instinct  of 
the  kind  embodied  in  the  proverb — Reculer pour 
micux  saiiter — to  first  turn  southward.  Thus, 
after  receiving  a  benediction  in  Cologne  Cathedral, 
we  glided  slowly  up  the  river  which  is  so  vain  of 
its  castles  and  clamorous  of  its  legends,  to  gay, 
complacent  Franklort  ;  thence,  turning  northward 
again,  we  paused  at  Cassel,  which  redeems  its 
commonplace  streets  by  its  Auegarten,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  public  parks  in  Cermany,  dignified 
bv  superb  oaks  and  a  winding  river, — and  which 
also  l)oasts  of  an  admirable  ])icture-gallery,  and  of 
the  castle  and  ])ark  of  Wilhelmshohe  where  Napo- 
leon III.  was  a  reluctant  "guest "' after  his  fatal 
defeat  at  Sedan.      Another  day  we  gave  to  })ros- 


20  A'O/dH'AV  XIGHTS. 

perous,  prett\-  Hanover,  and  two  or  three  to 
Hamburg,  where  we  enjoyed  its  gay  gardens,  its 
charming  Alster  promenade,  and  its  general  air  of 
success.  It  was  on  the  ??ienu  of  the  Hamburger 
Hof  that  we  were  offered  a  sort  of  fritter  with  the 
unmeaning  name  of  "  Armer  Ritter, "  and  an  arti- 
cle called  "  Lieder  ohne  Worte, "  which  of  course 
ought  to  have  been  a  dish  of  skylarks,  but  was 
merely  beefsteak  with  a  mysterious  sauce.  Next  in 
order  on  our  chart  was  the  railway,  still  northward, 
across  the  \n\ic\\-beques(i(med  Schleswig-Holstein  to 
the  little  town  of  Kiel,  which  although  not  large 
is  important,  being  the  home-station  of  the  princi- 
})al  part  of  the  German  navy,  that  finds  both  refuge 
and  anchorage  in  its  deep  fiord.  From  Kiel  one 
goes  by  steam  around  the  eastern  islands  of  Den- 
mark nine  or  ten  hours  to  Copenhagen. 

The  shores  of  the  fiord  are  pleasing,  but  not 
salient ;  many  islands  dot  the  waters,  and  the  vil- 
lages   resemble    toy    hamlets    with    bright   yellow 


SErr/yc  orr.  21 


houses  and  red  roofs.  The  steamer  was  severel}' 
clean,  and  gratuitously  furnished  minute  guide- 
books in  various  languages,  those  in  English 
being  peculiarly  eulogistic  of  *'the  view  of  the 
aspect  of  the  sceneries. " 

Here  we  first  heard  the  language  of  Denmark 
and  Norway,  rather  blunt  and  unmusical,  and 
with  so  slight  analogy  to  any  other  that  memory 
retains  it  with  difficulty.  A  few  nouns  and 
phrases  for  travelling  purposes  are  of  course  de- 
sirable, and  well  worth  the  trouble  of  acquiring. 
In  fact,  it  is  better  to  take  a  good  deal  of  trouble 
rather  than  endure  the  humiliating  sense  of  help- 
less idiocy  in  a  foreign  land.  One  is  uncon- 
sciously apt  to  fancy  that  with  the  accents  of  a 
new  language  one  must  receive  new  ideas,  as  if 
the  problems  of  thought  might  clear  themselves 
through  strange  articulations — a  delusion  quickly 
dispelled  when  we  find  that  such  mystic  syllables 
as  ''Ver  saa  god    luk  op    doren   og    luk    vinduet 


2  2  .VO/?lV.-iy  NIGHTS. 

igjen*'    convey  no    deeper  meaning  than  "Please 
sliul  the  door  and  open  the  window." 

Copenhagen,  as  seen  on  the  surface,  did  not 
appeal  forcibly  to  our  interest.  The  streets  are 
broad,  modern,  and  indistinctive.  There  are 
pretty  drives — one  especially  around  the  harbor, 
where  hundreds  of  masts  with  foreign  and  native 
flags  are  etched  against  the  evening  sky — and  an  in- 
dented coast  studded  with  trees,  well  "composed  "' 
as  a  picture.  On  a  wooded  hill  above  is  a  sub- 
stantial, comfortable-looking  Mariner's  Home,  a 
pleasing  contrast  to  the  wretched  boarding-houses 
and  drinking-caves,  where  those  homeless  sea-birds 
often  find  their  only  refuge.  The  old  castle  of 
Rosenberg  standing  in  a  fine  park  is  curious  as 
the  residence  of  a  long  line  of  Danish  kings, 
whose  ugly  portraits  decorate  the  stuffy  interior. 
One  could  readily  believe  that  the  handsome  win- 
dows in  old  (}erman  style  had  never  admitted 
fresh  air  since    the    last   breath  of  the  last  of  the 


SETTING   OUT. 


"Christians"  had  feebly  floated  through  them. 
The  good-looking  Hercules  who  conducted  us 
through  the  rooms  told  us,  in  excellent  and  hu- 
morous English,  several  anecdotes  of  these  de- 
funct royalties,  and  exhibited,  with  an  interest  that 
became  contagious,  their  quaintly-embroidered 
satin  coats  and  dresses,  old  jewel-  and  snuff-boxes, 
watches,  gold  goblets,  silver  andirons,  and  much 
niore  of  that  indescribable  lumber  which  becomes 
either  art-treasure  or  rubbish  according  to  the 
taste  of  succeeding  ages.  Our  cicerone's  air  of 
fjotihofuie  and  pleasant  jests  indicated  a  social 
grade  quite  above  that  of  an  ordinary  guide;  and 
the  perplexing  question  whether  or  not  to  offer 
him  the  customary  fee  nearly  proved  our  disgrace. 
Fortunately  he  relieved  our  unexpressed  dilemma 
by  indicating  that  the  servant  whom  he  had  or- 
dered to  bring  us  a  branch  of  lilac-blossoms 
would  not  object  to  a  gratuity.  Wo.  afterwards 
learned    that  he  was  bv  no    means  the    ordinary 


24  NO/SH^-AV  NIGHTS. 


showman,  but  the  "'  Herr  Direktor"  of  the  palace, 
and  inferred  that  it  was  probably  for  the  mere 
pleasure  of  talking  that  he  had  played  the  part 
of  BosNvell  to  his  dead  lions. 

The  principal  object  of  interest  in  Copenhagen 
is  Thorwaldsen's  gallery,  which  occupies  three 
stories  in  a  large  building  erected  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  contains  the  original  casts  of  nearly  all 
his  works.  Although  his  sculptures  are  familiar 
objects  all  over  Kurope,  and  plaster  copies  are 
universal,  only  here  does  one  realize  the  creative 
power  and  manual  industry  of  the  genial  sculptor. 
The  most  interesting  of  his  later  productions  is  an 
unfinished  life-size  statue  of  himself  leaning  on 
a  youthful  figure  of  Hope.  In  this  as  in  all  por- 
traits of  him  there  is  an  almost  childlike  sweet- 
ness of  expression,  as  well  as  vivacious  intelligence 
in  his  strongly-marked  features.  There  are  sev- 
eral lions  in  plaster  and  marble,  but  they  give 
only  a   faint  impression   of  the  magnificent   crea- 


SETTIXG   OCT.  25 

ture  carved  in  the  face  of  the  rock  at  Lucerne, 
where,  overshadowed  by  lofty  trees,  his  gigantic 
body  reflected  in  the  water,  but  unapproachable  to 
the  profane  touch  of  the  curious,  he  Hes  dying, 
alone,  in  pathetic  majesty. 

This  temple  of  art  is  built  around  a  court  in 
the  centre  of  which  is  the  artist's  grave  ;  utterly 
simple,  in  accordance  with  his  directions  :  only 
an  ivy-covered  mound  enclosed  by  low  slabs  of 
granite,  with  the  name  "Thorwaldsen"  carved 
on  one  side,  on  another  the  dates  of  his  birth 
and  death — that  single  word  his  all-sufiicient 
eulogy. 

When  leaving  Copenhagen  we  quite  forgot  that 
the  sail  to  Elsinore  would  lead  us  to  the  alleged 
locality  of  Hamlet's  grave,  marked  by  a  heap  of 
stones  ;  but  as  that  young  hero's  life  is  by  latest 
researches  supposed  to  antedate  the  Christian  Era 
by  two  hundred  years,  one  may  be  pardoned  for 
not  sacrificing  on  so  mvthical  a  shrine. 


26  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

We  embarked  for  Christiania  on  the  fine  Danish 
steamer  Mekhior ;  but  as  it  came  from  Stettin 
with  full  complement  of  passengers,  we  were  un- 
able to  obtain  private  sleeping-cabins,  and  it  be- 
came a  serious  question  whether  we  should  not 
be  obliged  to  sit  up  all  night.  Happily,  the  cap- 
tain's kindness,  added  to  a  slight  knowledge  of 
English  and  German,  came  to  the  rescue,  and  he 
ordered  the  large  deck-saloon  to  be  placed  at  our 
disposal  after  lo  p.m.  This  was  the  first  of  a 
series  of  gratuitous  courtesies  which  we  received 
from  the  chief  officers  of  ten  diff'erent  steamers  in 
northern  waters ;  for  which  we  hold  them  in 
grateful  remembrance. 

Here  was  our  first  noticeable  experience  of  a 
June  sunrise  in  higher  latitudes.  Wakened  at 
half-past  two  by  the  light  glowing  through  uncur- 
tained windows,  I  stepped  on  deck  to  breathe 
the  first  freshness  of  that  j)erfect  day.  The  skv 
was    scintillant   with  opaline  hues  :     the    water,  a 


SETT/XG   OUT.  27- 


tremulous  mass  of  jewels  in  the  wake  of  the 
golden  sun  :  and  the  i)eauty  was  even  heightened 
by  solitude,  for  not  a  creature  was  visible,  save  one 
red-capped  sailor  at  the  prow. 


CHAPTER    11. 


CHRISTIAXIA. 


THE  voyage  to  Christiania  is   made  in  about 
twenty  hours,  and  during  at  least  half  that 
time    the    ship    steers   between  verdant   islands  of 
various    forms    and    sizes.      The    fiord    that    leads 
directly  from  the  Baltic  to  Christiania  is  fifty  miles 
long,  including  the  Kattegat  and  Skagger  Rack  of 
childish   amusement    in     foreign    names,    narrow- 
ing and  widening  between  Denmark  and  Sweden. 
— a  very  picturesque  arm  of  the  sea,  enlivened  b}- 
sailing-boats  and    steamers,    flecked  with   islands, 
and  bounded  by  fertile,  sometimes  pine-clad,  hills 
dotted  with  pleasant-looking  villas. 

The  new  capital  of  Norway  is  unmarked  by 
steeples  or  any  salient  architectural  lines.  As  we 
ncared  the  harbor,  a  little  fleet  of  twenty  sailing- 


CHRISTIAXIA.  29 


vessels  glided  towards  us,  simulating,  in  the  morn- 
ing- mist  that  now  partiall\  obscured  the  sun,  a 
procession  of  white  robed  and  hooded  Carmelite 
monks,  in  twos  and  threes,  the  smaller  ones  be- 
hind in  pictural  ])erspective,  going  out  to  morning 
prayer.  The  beauty  of  that  June  morning,  and  of 
the  lovely  panorama,  might  well  inspire  a  7t' 
Deiim  laiidamus. 

Here  we  were  at  last,  in  the  Norwa}-  of  our 
dreams — very  different  dreams  from  those  of  the 
Orient,  of  Italy  and  Spain  :  a  land  of  the  grandly 
picturesque,  dark  and  stern  in  most  of  its  moods 
as  were  the  anthropomorphic  gods  of  its  pagan 
days,  and  with  a  simple,  honest,  practical  people 
who  are  the  antipodes  of  Southern  fire  and  Kastern 
guile. 

As  the  landing-i)lank  was  secured  to  the  quay, 
a  few  porters  and  cabmen  stood  quietly  wait- 
ing, some  of  whom  came  on  board  with  grave 
.salutations,  and  carried  off  on  their  stalwart  shoul- 


30  AO/^H'Ay  n/g/zts. 

tiers  the  boxes  of  a  hundred  or  more  etjually  tran- 
quil passengers.  No  one  shrieked  ( >r  pushed  or 
lost  temper,  and  yet  the  end  was  accomplished 
without  these  ordinary  motors.  The  custom- 
house officers,  with  national  trust  in  the  probity 
of  their  fellow-beings,  merely  asked  for  a  declara- 
tion, without  opening  a  trunk. 

We  soon  found  ourselves  in  such  attractive 
rooms  at  the  Victoria  Hotel  that  we  said  in  our 
hearts,  "  Let  us  abide  here  forever. ""  It  was  not  a 
"grand  hotel," — happily  we  were  not  doomed  in 
Norway  to  those  mocking  hostelries  that  are  fain 
to  pass  themselves  off  as  palaces,  and  to  give  you 
the  minimum  of  comfort  with  the  maximum  of 
price, — but  a  serene  r/uasi-homc,  where  one  re- 
ceives the  respectful  tribute  of  his  own  name,  and 
is  not  stigmatized  as  Number  Twenty-nine.  In 
our  "ideal  tour, '"  as  we  fondly  called  it,  we  es- 
caped that  obloquy  everywhere.  We  breakfasted 
here  in  a  veranda  open   on  one  side  to  a  garden, 


CHRJSTIANIA.  3 1 


and  profusely  decorated  tm  tlie  others  wiili  polar- 
bear  skins,  eider-down  rugs,  reindeer  and  elk 
heads  and  antlers,  a  collection  of  antique  silver 
ornaments,  carved-wood  trifles,  eider-ducks  and 
auks  that  looked  alive  but  for  their  immobility, 
besides  enticing  photographs  of  waterfalls  and 
mountains.  The  prettiest-mannered  little  thing  in 
feathers  hopped  on  the  back  of  a  chair  close  by 
our  table,  cocked  his  head  on  one  side  incpiiringly, 
but  without  even  the  chirp  of  a  petition  :  evi- 
dently a  reconnoitring  party  sent  out  to  scan  the 
resources  and  disposition  of  the  enemy  ;  for  when 
an  amical")le  volley  of  crumbs  was  projected  to- 
wards him  he  flew  away,  but  presently  returned 
with  half  a  dozen  of  his  tiny  brothers. 

The  dining-room  was  a  ])retty  pavilion  in  the 
garden,  covered  with  striped  red  and  white  linen  : 
from  the  roof  were  suspended  with  friendly  inter- 
national effect  the  flags  of  various  countries  ;  a 
huge  mass  of  sparkling  ice  rose  like  a  glacier  from 


32  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

the  ceiUre  of  the  table,  around  which  gathered 
Danes,  Swedes,  Germans,  one  or  two  Frenchmen 
(who  always  look  out  of  place  when  out  of 
France),  and  Englishmen  garrulous  of  prospective 
spoils  in  trout  and  reindeer  haunts.  Some  years 
ago  Norway  was  an  El  Dorado  of  freedom  for 
sportsmen,  but  several  Englishmen  have  purchased 
or  leased  large  estates  of  the  best  salmon-grounds 
(or  waters),  and  the  government  now  exacts  a  tax 
on  public  lands  of  two  hundred  to  three  hundred 
krone  (or  ten  to  fifteen  pounds  sterling)  for  the 
season.  Salmon- fishing  is  not  now  to  be  ob- 
tained ;  but  other  fishing  is  always  at  hand,  and 
reindeer  may  be  hunted  if  one  will  take  a  guide  to 
their  mountain  haunts  and  accept  the  hardships 
involved  in  the  pursuit  of  creatures  so  shy  and 
keen-scented.  Sleeping  on  straw  in  a  leak}'  hut 
or  under  a  snow-covered  rock,  with  only  milk  and 
oat-cakes  to  live  upon,  certainly  demands  the 
noble  incentive  of  ''something  to  kill." 


CHRISTIAN  lA.  H 


Christiania,  which  rephicecl  a  much  older  town, 
was  founded  in  1624  by  Christian  IV.  of  Den- 
mark. It  is  built  mostl}-  of  stone,  the  original 
citv  of  wood  ha\-ing  suffered  from  man}'  confla- 
grations ;  the  streets  are  broad  to  avoid  this  dan- 
ger, and  the  houses  low,  generally  only  two  stories. 
It  cannot  be  called  architecturally  handsome,  but 
has  a  few  fine  streets,  the  best  of  which  contains 
the  principal  shops  and  has  a  lively  aspect.  At 
one  end  is  the  Storthing,  or  Parliament  House, 
a  more  curious  than  happy  combination  of  Ro- 
manesque and  Renaissance  styles  outside,  but  very 
comfortable  within.  The  other  terminus  is  a 
pretty  park  which  leads  to  a  hill  of  moderate 
height,  on  which  stands  the  very  plain  but  sub- 
stantial royal  palace.  In  front  of  this  edifice  is  a 
statue  of  Bernadotte,  first  king  of  Sweden  and 
Norway,  on  a  pedestal  carved  with  the  words, 

"The  people's  love  is  my  reward." 


34  JVO/eWAV  NIGHl'S. 


— a  sentiment  which  during  at  least  the  early  part 
of  his  reign  was  rather  more  theoretical  than  prac- 
tical ;  for  Norway,  wrested  from  Denmark  after  a 
union  of  four  hundred  years  by  the  haute  politique 
of  Russia  and  Sweden  combined,  was  much  more 
disposed  to  receive  the  parveJiu  monarch  with 
cuffs  than  with  kisses,  and  with  pardonable  patri- 
otism resisted  all  attempts  to  infringe  upon  its  free 
Constitution.  However,  not  to  plunge  unduly 
into  history,  Bernadotte,  successful  adventurer, 
soldier,  and  statesman  as  he  was,  had  wisdom 
enough  to  make  many  popular  concessions,  and 
his  successors  have  proved  acceptable  rulers.  But 
it  is  evident  even  to  a  passing  traveller  that  the 
old  jealousies  are  not  quite  effaced  between  the 
united  kingdoms.  Norway  clings  proudly  and 
fondly  to  the  traditions  and  institutions  of 
"  Gammle  Norge" — -old  Norway — and  observes 
with  considerable  pride  the  anniversary  of  JMay 
17,    1814,    when    the   mutual   rights   of  king   and 


CHRLSTIAXIA.  35 


people  were  clearly  defined  and  guaranteed  by  the 
allied  powers,  llie  gDvernment  is  more  republi- 
can than  monarchical  ;  there  is  no  hereditar\-  no- 
bility ;  the  two  houses  of  Parliament  combine 
much  freedom  with  judicious  checks  upon  each 
other  :  a  bill  which  has  passed  through  both 
houses  of  three  successive  assemblies  of  parlia- 
ment may  become  a  law  without  the  royal  assent ; 
and  there  are  reasonable  property  qualifications 
for  the  privilege  of  voting. 

T'he  interior  of  the  palace  is  utterly  unpalatial, 
the  only  objects  worth  looking  at  being  a  few 
pictures  by  the  most  celebrated  native  artists. 
Tiderman  and  (nide.  The  Queen's  apartments 
are  very  unpretending,  but  have  a  happy  air  from 
the  numerous  photographs  and  portraits  that 
cover  walls  and  tables.  We  noticed  a  picture  of 
a  sheaf  of  oats  hanging  from  a  window  in  winter- 
time, and  were  told  that  it  illustrated  the  pretty 
custom   of  giving  Christmas    dinner  to  the  birds. 


36  NOJ?lVAV  NIGHTS. 

The  broad  balcony  of  the  palace  commands  a 
charming  view  of  the  city,  the  neighboring  hills 
dotted  with  villas,  the  bay  flecked  with  white  sails, 
and  the  graceful  curves  of  the  shore.  The  castle 
of  Agershaus,  six  hundred  years  old,  stands  promi- 
nently on  one  of  the  hills,  a  fortress  and  also  a 
prison.  A  story  is  told  of  an  adroit  criminal,  the 
Robin  Hood  of  Norway,  who  was  long  ago  im- 
prisoned here  in  a  room  formed  of  thick  iron  bars. 
After  having  several  times  eluded  the  jailers  (once 
by  breaking  into  the  inspector's  room  while  that 
official  was  at  church,  dressing  in  his  clothes  and 
quietly  walking  out  of  the  city),  he  was  consigned 
to  a  deep  dungeon  underneath  the  strongest  part 
of  the  fortress,  whence  escape  seemed  impossible. 
But  like  Love  he  laughed  at  bolts  and  bars,  cut 
through  the  heavy  planks  of  the  flooring,  and 
made  an  outlet  under  the  walls.  Not  long  after 
he  robbed  a  bank  of  a  large  amount,  so  mysteri- 
ouslv  as  to  leave  no  trace  on  either  door  or  locks : 


CHRISTIANIA.  37 


and  finally,  on  being  again  imprisoned,  gave  the 
last  turn  to  his  fate  by  hanging  himself 

A  well-shaded  drive  up  the  hills  brought  us  to 
the  little  summer  palace  calletl  Oscar's  Hall, 
which  seems  to  have  no  raisoii  d'etre  except  the 
view,  the  rooms  being  small  and  nearly  bare. 
On  the  dining-room  walls  hang  a  set  of  paint- 
ings by  Tiderman,  depicting  with  great  charm  of 
color  and  form  Norwegian  peasant-life  from  in- 
fancy to  old  age.  The  favorite  subjects  of  this 
popular  artist  were  taken  from  his  own  })eople, 
and  probably  no  one  has  given  the  world  s(j  faith- 
ful an  idea  of  their  characteristics.  On  his  crowded 
canvas  is  no  indistinctness  or  confusion  ;  the 
grouping  is  artistic,  and  the  varied  and  marked 
expressions  of  face  an  admirable  study. 

A  few  steps  from  Oscar's  Hall  there  stands  on  a 
grassy  slope  a  very  small  wocxlen  chapel,  which  is 
a  most  fantastic  piece  of  architecture,  and  closelv 
resembles  a  verv  ancient  one  at  Borsfund,  and  an- 


3« 


A'O/^U'.n'  NIGHTS. 


Anciknt  Church. 


Other  at  Ilitterdal  near  Bergen.  The  interior, 
^vhich  will  nc^t  hold  more  than  fifty  people,  has 
no  windows,  and   light   is  admitted  only  from  the 


CHRISTIANIA.  39 


two  doors ;  a  covered  balcony  runs  all  around  the 
building,  and  a  lofty  indescribable  roof  surmounts 
it,  ornamented  with  serpents  twined  together,  antl 
dragons'  heads,  more  Chinese  than  European.  In 
the  other  churches  of  the  same  sort  are  relics  of 
pagan  forms  of  worship. 

Nearly  opposite  this  "  Gammle  Kirke"  is  a 
quaint  old  peasant-house  containing  furniture, 
kitchen  utensils,  beds,  and  the  family  Bible  pre- 
cisely as  they  were  left  two  hundred  years  ago  ; 
and  at  that  time  the  low-raftered  ceiling,  tiny  win- 
dows, and  painfully  short  beds  in  close  alcoves  or 
bunks  were  perhaps  considered  a  ' '  grateful  shel- 
ter. ■' 

There  is  a  flourishing  small  university  in  Chris- 
tiania,  and  an  interesting  museum,  with  a  picture- 
gallery  containing  some  good  paintings  by  native 
artists,  all  of  whom,  however,  study  in  Diisseldorf 
or  Paris,  as  there  is  no  school  of  art  in  Norway. 
The    ethnographical     department    illustrates    the 


40 


NOR  WA  J '  A'/GH  7S. 


household  Hfe  of  two  centuries  ago  in  carved  fur- 
niture, quaint  utensils,  silver  ornaments,  spoons 
and  cups.  There  is  great  skill  exhibited  in  this 
work,  especially  in  the   filigree  :   in   all   the  towns, 


Olk  Norwegian  Brooch. 


and  even  in  the  villages,  silversmiths  are  numerous. 
The  antique  spoons  are  awkward  in  shape,  but 
the  handles  are  often  curiously  wrought.  In  those 
made    by    the    Lai)landers,    found    farther    north, 


CHRIsriAXIA.  41 


small,  finely-chased  rings  are  inserted ;  silver 
brooches  and  wedding-rings  were  similarly 
adorned,  as  well  as  by  rows  of  gilded  ornaments, 
like  the  bowl  of  a  salt-spoon.  INIodern  collectors 
have  swept  away  the  greater  part  of  these  interest- 
ing relics  ;  in  a  short  time  there  will  be  scarcely 
an  old  spoon  left  outside  of  museums.  Hitherto 
the  peasants  emigrating  to  America  have  often 
sold  their  silver  heirlooms  ;  but  they  never  part 
with  them  if  they  can  help  it.  Among  these 
cu?'ios  is  one  group  that  brings  a  shudder — the 
girdle  and  knives  used  in  the  duel  which  pre- 
vailed among  the  lower  classes  until  about  sixty 
years  ago.  The  combatants  began  by  driving 
their  knives  into  a  piece  of  wood  ;  that  portion  of 
each  blade  not  buried  in  the  wood  was  bound 
around  with  strips  of  leather,  leaving  for  use 
only  the  part  which  the  wielder  had  been  able  to 
stab  into  the  wood.  The  men  were  now  placed 
close  together  face  to  face,  the  girdle  arouml  both, 


42  NORIVAV  NIGHTS. 


securely  buckled  so  that  neither  could  release  him- 
self; their  knives  were  handed  them,  and  they 
fought  till  one  of  them  gave  out.  This  coarse 
and  horrible  mode  of  settling  a  grievance  was 
known  as  "  the  duel  of  the  girdle."  It  is  said  that 
as  these  duels  were  almost  certain  to  be  fatal  to 
one  or  both  parties,  every  man's  wife  used  to 
carry  a  winding-sheet  to  banquets  where  quarrels 
were  likely  to  arise  from  jealousy  or  intoxica- 
tion. 

In  the  picturesque  market-place  stands  the  old- 
est church,  the  interest  of  which  is  all  on  the  out- 
side, looking  down  upon  the  vendors  of  domestic 
wares,  scanty  vegetables  and  fruits,  the  best  of 
which  at  this  season  are  the  fragrant  little  wild 
strawberries. 

Two  or  three  days  are  quite  sufficient  for  a  good 
view  of  Christiania,  including  the  near  excursions, 
for  its  area  contains  only  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand     inhabitants.        A    local    guide-book, 


CHRISTIANIA.  43 


''printed  at  expenses  of  the  author,"  contains 
some  amusing  specimens  of  Enghsh  learned  in 
Norway.  He  says,  "  In  Oslo  is  the  very  old  Oslo 
church  situated.  It  is  built  in  a  very  old  style  and 
is  very  old.  "  He  mentions  ' '  several  establishments 
for  informations,  destinated  for  boys  and  girls, 
together  with  many  others  establishments  founded 
for  more  specially  use."  He  proudly  enumerates 
the  "not  quite  inconsiderable"  manufactories  of 
Christiania,  among  which  is  a  "fabric  for  pack 
of  cards;"  and  says,  "the  streets  are  altogether 
well-pavemented  and  in  the  night  lightened  with 
gas."  The  Hotel  Victoria  "is  undergone  several 
new  amendments  after  the  present  pretensions," 
and  "is  put  to  the  stranger's  disposition  for  it 
exists  no  public  restauration  there."  The  stranger 
is  advised  to  "  accord  \vith  the  coachman  so  as 
to  escape  later  incommodations, "  and  invited  to  a 
"great  plain  which  is  used  for  exercising  the  sol- 
diers of  every  arms  ;  these  march  off  from  the  city 


CHRIST  I  A. XI. I.  45 


in  the  morning  and  return  in  the  evening  ;  no 
more  notice  of  this  "  !  The  table  of  contents  in- 
cludes "atrip  to  the  Madhouse,"  "a  trip  to  the 
deafs  and  dumbs, "  " '  the  fire-stopping  apparates, "' 
and  other  equally  well-defined  sights. 

The  most  interesting  object  to  be  seen  in  the 
city  of  Christiania  is  the  celebrated  Viking  ship 
which  was  found  buried  at  Gokstad,  a  little  town 
on  the  southern  coast  in  a  tumulus  called  the 
King's  Mound,  from  the  tradition  that  a  king  had 
been  buried  there  with  his  valuables. 

But,  as  all  the  world  now  knows,  the  Vikings 
and  the  Sea-Kings  were  two  distinct  classes  of 
Norse  folk  :  the  latter  being  really  of  royal  race, 
while  the  former  were  roving  pirates  who  found 
refuge  for  their  long  rowing-galleys  in  the  vicks,  or 
creeks,  of  the  coast.  Probably  in  modern  Ameri- 
can parlance  we  should  call  them  Creekers  ;  still, 
Viking  has  a  royal  and  romantic  sound,  and  we 
will    not    give    it    up.      Doubtless    they  were  for- 


46  NOJ^M^\4V  NIGHTS. 

midable  in  their  time,  whatever  we  may  now  call 
them. 

In  1880  the  owners  of  the  land  excavated  the 
vessel  with  its  numerous  appurtenances,  archae- 
ologists hastened  to  see  and  speculate,  fragments 
were  carefully  criticised,  and  finally  the  entire 
treasure-trove  was  transferred  to  Christiania,  where 
a  wooden  building  was  erected  for  it.  It  is  the 
largest  and  most  complete  ship  in  the  world  of 
so  ancient  date, — a.  d.  900, — and  had  evidently 
been  the  private  property  of  one  of  those  Viking 
pirates  who  bore  terror  at  his  prow  and  conquest 
al  his  helm. 

"  The  eagle  heads  of  all  the  North 

Have  left  their  stormy  strand  ; 
The  warriors  of  the  world  set  forth 

To  seek  another  land. 
Again  their  long  keels  sheer  the  wave, 

Their  broad  sails  court  the  breeze  ; 
Again  the  reckless  and  the  brave 

Ride,  lords  of  weltering  seas." 


CHRJSTIANIA.  47 


This  curious  craft  was  seventy-six  feet  long,  six- 
teen feet  wide  amidships,  had  a  lofty  prow,  a  sin- 
gle mast  with  a  square  sail,  and  was  clinker-built — 
that  is,  the  lower  edge  of  every  plank  overlaps  the 
next  below  it  like  slates  on  the  roof  of  a  house. 
It  contained  the  remains  of  three  small  boats  even 
more  remarkable  than  the  vessel  itself,  as  the  only 
known  specimen  of  so  great  antiquity.  They  are 
of  unpainted  oak,  very  sharp  at  each  end,  with  a 
place  for  a  mast,  singular  rowlocks  for  oars,  and 
are  most  skilfully  wrought,  even  the  bottom-boards 
being  adorned  with  graven  circles.  The  ship  was 
originally  equipped  with  thirty-two  shields,  but 
only  four  now  remain.  Their  disks  were  formed 
of  thin  white  pine  and  a  central  boss,  a  cross-piece 
underneath  serving  as  handle.  Each  shield  was 
so  arranged  that  its  outer  edge  touched  the  boss  of 
the  preceding  one  ;  and  as  they  were  painted  yel- 
low and  black,  the  whole  range  looked  like  a  series 
of  party-colored  half-moons.     They  were  probably, 


CHRISriANlA.  49 


from  their  thinness,  indifferent  defences,  for  the 
Sagas  often  speak  of  shields  being  cleft  and  ex- 
changed for  new  ones.  Possibly  they  were  de- 
signed more  for  ornament  than  for  use. 

A  very  interesting  object  is  the  rudder,  which  is 
in  perfect  preservation  on  the  starboard — originally 
the  sleerboard,  or  steering — side,  which  here  is  on 
the  right  of  the  vessel.  It  was  evidently  a  sort  of 
movable  blade  or  oar,  not  attached  io  the  ship, 
but  to  a  projecting  beam  of  wood,  and  could  be 
hauled  on  deck  when  the  oars  were  used  instead 
of  sails.  The  one  mast  was  also  movable,  and 
when  erected  was  placed  in  a  hole  made  in  a 
beam  at  the  bottom  of  the  ship,  and  secured  a 
few  feet  higher  up  l)y  passing  through  another  ori- 
fice in  a  heavy  log  of  curious  shape.  There  were 
no  indications  of  seats  for  the  rowers,  who  may 
have  plied  the  oar:;  in  a  standing  position,  in  man- 
ner similar  to  that  of  Venetian  gondoliers. 

Among  the    relics    found  with    the   ship  are  the 


5° 


A^O/^M'AV  NIGHTS. 


feathers  of  a  peacock,  no  doubt  a  souvenir  of  for- 
eign voyages  ;  a  bundle  of  yellow  cloth  with  red 
stripes  sewed  on,  clearly  meant  for  a  tent ;  dark- 
gray  woollen  fragments  of  clothing,  a  long  piece 
of  silk  interwoven  with  gold,  carved  wooden 
plates,  cups,  candlesticks,  gilded  and  silvered 
strap-buckles  and  buttons,  a  large  copper  cal- 
dron, a  remarkable  axe,  and  even  the  landing- 
plank.  Who  knows  but  this  plank  may  have  up- 
held the  feet  of  the  adventurous  Norsemen  who 
sought  new  homes  among  the  geysers  of  Iceland 
before  pushing  over  to  America,  or  who  crushed 
heather  and  gorse  in  Scotland,  or  even  of  those 
who  stepped  from  the  Golden  Horn  to  service  in 
the  Imperial  Guard  of  the  Sultan's  palace  !  * 

The  funeral   of   a  Viking  chief  was  a  barbaric 


*  I  give  considerable  space  to  the  description  of  this 
old  ship,  because  it  was  really  the  most  characteristic 
and  historically  interesting  thing  to  be  seen  in  Norway. 


CHRISTIAXIA.  5  1 


ceremony.  A  slight  excavation  was  made  on  the 
coast,  into  which  his  ship  was  lowered,  the  prow 
turned  seaward.  A  sepulchral  cabin  was  pre- 
pared in  the  centre,  and  the  body,  Iving  on  a 
sletlge,  decked  in  state  attire,  ornaments  and  full 
panoply  of  arms,  was  then  introduced,  and  the 
opening  closed  with  la}ers  of  birch-bark  ;  all  other 
personal  possessions  were  laid  in  other  i)arts  of 
this  gigantic  cofiin,  which  was  packed  to  the  top 
with  moss  and  blue  clay,  which  is  said  to  be  a 
peculiarly  good  preservative  against  decay.  His 
horses  and  dogs  were  killed  and  placed  against 
the  sides,  and  finally  earth  piled  over  all  in  form  of 
a  lofty  mound.  This  was  done  very  near  the 
shore,  so  that  even  after  death  the  shadow  of 
the  sea-rover  might  frown  upon  his  chosen  ele- 
ment. Occasionally,  however,  the  vessel  and  its 
owner  were  burned  together  to  the  water's  (t<}i^^c:. 
A  tradition  has  come  down  concerning  one  of 
those    dauntless    warriors    that    when    he    felt  the 


52  yO/?JVAy  NIGHTS. 

hand  of  death  upon  him  he  ordered  his  ship  to 
be  filled  with  combustible  materials  and  ignited, 
the  sail  set  seaward,  and  there,  alone  upon  his 
funeral-pyre,  the  spray  of  ocean  for  his  chrism, 
the  winds  his  ministers,  his  unconquered  spirit 
fled  to  the  Walhalla  of  his  faith. 

Even  ships  ' '  ma\-  rise  on  stepping-stones  of 
former  selves. "'  Perhaps  a  thousand  years  hence 
the  skeleton  of  one  of  our  ocean  steamers  may 
survive — a  barbaric  toy,  when  the  now-anticipated 
glories  of  electric  motors  shall  have  had  their 
day,  and  some  more  ])<)werful  agent  may  offer 
summer  excursions  straight  to  the  Pole  itself 


CHAPTER  III. 

T  H  E     li  I'  D  B  K  A  N  S  D  A  L. 

BEFORE  leaviiii,-  Christiania  we  planned  our 
chart  of  travel  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Bennett, 
an  Enghshman  long  resident  there,  who  is  a  sort 
of  Cook's  Agency  amplified  and  improved.  He 
rents  vehicles  for  posting,  marks  om  routes  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  time  and  taste  of  the  inquirer, 
furnishes  guide-books,  has  a  large  assortment  i.f 
antiquities  for  sale,  and  is  withal  so  friendly  and 
obliging  that  he  is  very  popular.  Our  time  was 
limited,  for  we  had  also  Sweden  and  Russia  be- 
fore us,  and  an  engagement  at  Bayreuth  at  the  end 
of  two  months. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  two  of  the  requisities 
for  a  pleasant   tour  are    "a    little  too  little   time 


54  JVO/e^VAV  NIGHTS. 

and  a  little  too  much  money."  The  spur  of  ac- 
tion stimulates  the  brain  ;  the  generous  purse  se- 
cures from  care.  The  quaiitujii  sufficii  in  Scandi- 
navia is  somewhat  less  than  elsewhere  on  the  Con- 
tinent, and  is  indicated  in  a  general  way  in  the 
guide-books.  Mr.  Bennett  is  especially  service- 
able to  ladies  travelling  without  a  courier,  and 
the}-  can  very  well  dispense  with  one  on  ordinary 
routes  if  they  will  take  the  trouble  to  learn  a  litde 
Norsk.  A  few  lessons  only  are  necessary  for  pro- 
nunciation, and  Bennett's  Phrase-book  is  more 
helpful  than  those  books  generally  are,  being  more 
ingeniously  arranged.  If  a  guide  is  preferred, 
a  man  in  Christiania  named  Aak  may  be  highly 
recommended. 

Our  route  was  to  take  us  up  the  Mjosen  lake,  the 
largest  in  Norway,  to  Lilliehamar,  thence  across 
the  Gudbransdal  and  the  Romsdal  valleys  to 
Molde,  including  the  (ieiranger  Fiord,  to  the  west- 
ern coast ;    from    Molde   to   Trondhjem  ;    thence 


THE   GUDBRASSDAL.  55 


by  steamer  to  the  North  Cape.  Much  patient 
scrutiny  of  numerous  guide-books  had  indicated 
this  as  a  very  satisfactory  though  not  an  exhaustive 
tour.  For  the  latter  at  least  one  entire,  diligent 
summer  would  be  required,  and  even  then  much 
would  be  left  out. 

A  railway  ride  of  two  hours  through  a  fertile 
country  for  that  latitude  brought  us  to  Eidsvold, 
where    we   went   on   board    the   Kong    Oscar,   a 
dainty  litde  steamer  affording  an  upper  deck  and 
a   good    dinner,   including  the  inevitable    Lay  <.r 
salmon.     The  simple-hearted  old  captain  paid  us 
frequent  visits  and   expatiated   on  the  beauties  of 
the  lake,  which  he  had  thoroughly  learned  in  his 
experience  of  thirty  years  between  its  two  princi- 
pal points.      It  is   the   largest  in  Norway,  seventy 
miles  long,   and  contains  twenty  species  of   fish. 
whose  ancestors  must  have  suffered  terrible  fright 
during  the   earthquake  at   Lisbon  in   I755.  «he" 
the  waves  suddenly  rose  twent>'  feet  high  and  as 


56  XO/^lVAl'  NIGHTS. 


suddenly  retreated.  The  banks  are  pleasing,  but 
have  no  salient  features,  until  at  the  northern  end 
liie  hills  rise  in  height  with  evident  emulation  of 
their  neighbors  in  the  Gudbransdal  region  ;  for- 
ests of  birch  and  mountain  ash  grow  to  the  water's 
edge,  and  pine  and  tir  reach  to  their  summits.  All 
day  we  saw  drifting  down  to  Eidsvold  rafts  of  pine 
logs  felled  in  mountain  forests,  where  they  are  shot 
singly  down  the  Lougen  (a  tributary  of  the  lake), 
over  boulders  and  cataracts,  as  far  as  Lilliehamar  ; 
there  thev  are  collected  and  bound  together  for  a 
new  itinerary. 

We  stopped  for  the  night  at  Lilliehamar,  a  pros- 
perous but  not  a  pretty  village  in  spite  of  its  pretty 
name  (Little  Hill)  and  its  commanding  position 
above  Lake  ]\Ijosen.  Like  nearly  all  Norwegian 
villages  it  consists  mainly  of  one  long  straggling 
street  of  uninviting  houses,  in  which  are  half  a 
dozen  shops  that  offer  in  the  murky  windows  hats, 
buttons,  colored  handkerchiefs,  faded  photographs, 


riih:  GunBRAxsDAL.  57 

and  pebbly  bonbons.  However,  it  considers  it- 
self a  promising  town  and  boasts  of  several  mills, 
a  "grammar  school,"  and  two  or  three  rival  inns. 
We  went  to  the  ambitiously-named  Victoria,  which 
overlooks  the  lake.  Its  bare  floors  and  dehciency 
of  toilet  requisites  suggested  "roughing  it,  "but 
through  our  emphatic  gestures  and  our  few  invalu- 
able Norse  words  the  bewildered  landlady  con- 
trived to  understand  enough  of  our  needs  to 
make  us  comfortable.  After  our  excellent  sup- 
per of  brook  trout  and  wheat  pancakes,  or 
••pankagen,"  which  are  a  specialty  of  Norway, 
the  captain  of  the  Kojii^  Oscar  walked  up  from 
his  boat  to  escort  us  to  a  neighboring  waterfall 
which  for  the  honor  of  his  country  he  was  fain  to 
exhibit.  A  pleasant  saunter  through  fragrant 
woods  and  wild-flowers  led  to  a  jx^int  where  the 
turbulent  little  river  ^lessna  dashes  and  tlanccs 
over  a  heap  of  boulders  in  a  very  spirited  manner. 
"  Helvedeshol,"  or   "Caldron   of  Hell,"  seemed  a 


5S  A'O/dH^A}'  xYIGHTS. 


needlessly   severe  name  for   a    rush  of  water  that 
was  merely  in  high  (not  evil)  spirits. 

We  declined  an  invitation  to  watch  departing 
day  with  other  guests  on  the  terrace  at  eleven 
o'clock,  and  began  to  wonder  whether  anybody 
ever  went  to  bed  o'  summer  nights  in  Norway. 
Our  first  sweet  sleep  had  scarcely  begun  when 
cocks  and  hens  announced  the  sun  again,  and  re- 
minded us  that  we  had  appointed  an  early  hour  for 
our  first  experiment  in  the  national  vehicles,  cariole, 
stolkjxrre,  and  trille.  The  kariol,  or  cariole,  of 
Norwav,  unlike  our  carrvall  which  its  name  susr- 
gests,  is  a  unique  vehicle — a  species  of  gig  with  two 
wheels,  for  one  person  only.  It  is  light  and  sim- 
ple in  construction  ;  the  long,  elastic  shafts  are 
attached  to  the  axle-tree  ;  the  seat,  placed  well  for- 
ward, rests  by  cross-pieces  upon  the  shafts.  The 
legs  of  the  rider  must  be  nearly  horizontal  and 
rest  on  stirrup-shaped  irons,  so  that  he  is  protected 
from  all  inconvenience  and  danger  in   descending 


6o  ^'OJ^K\4y  nights. 

steep  hills  or  in  case  of  the  horse  falhng — a  rare 
occurrence,  as  the  animals  are  very  sure-footed. 
Across  the  ends  of  the  shafts,  behind  the  seat,  there 
is  a  board  to  hold  a  small  trunk,  and  on  that  sits 
the  boy  \s\\o  takes  the  liorse  back  to  his  post-sta- 
tion. The  harness  has  no  traces,  and  the  shafts 
are  attached  to  a  substitute  for  a  collar  by  some 
simple  arrangement,  so  that  the  little  cream-col- 
ored ponies  look  as  free  as  the  coursers  of  Apollo, 
but  much  less  frantic,  for  ladies  and  children  can 
generally  drive  them  with  safety  ;  pretty  creatures 
with  long  dark  manes,  and  tails  that  often  reach 
to  the  hoof  It  is  pleasant  to  see  how  kindly  they 
are  treated  :  a  whip  is  almost  an  unknown  ap- 
pendage ;  encouraging  words  speed  them  forward, 
and  they  are  stopped,  not  by  pulling  the  reins,  but 
by  a  peculiar  prolonged  Bu?-r-r / 

Like  everything  else  in  Norway  they  move  at 
rather  moderate  pace,  except  down  hill,  when  they 
fly  like  a  bicycle  and  gain  impetus   for  the  ascent 


THE   GUDBRAXSDAL.  6 1 


l)eyond.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  only  foreign- 
ers ever  abuse  them  by  hard  driving,  but  it  appears 
that  our  high  civilization  must  "  get  through"  at 
any  cost.  Why  even  That  should  desire  to  hurry 
through  picturesque  Norway  is  past  comprehen- 
sion. It  is  hard  upon  the  jxjor  farmers,  who  are 
obliged  by  the  government  to  furnish  horses  to 
travellers  in  lieu  of  certain  taxes  and  at  fixed  and 
rather  low  prices,  and  particularly  disadvantageous 
on  some  ^^'i  the  by-roads,  or  "slow  stations"  as 
they  are  called,  when  in  the  harvest  season  the 
horses  are  urgently  needed  in  the  fields.  Along 
the  principal  arteries  of  travel  the  farmers  club 
together  and  establish  regular  "fast."  <_)r  fixed, 
stations,  where  they  always  keep  in  reserve  a  sulfi- 
cient  number. 

Another  vehicle,  for  two  or  three  persons  with 
a  driver,  is  the  trille,  which  canned  be  praised 
f)r  its  "ample  space  and  verge  enough,"  but 
otherwise  is  comfortable — especially  if  one  is  for- 


62  JVO/^lVAV  NIGHTS. 


tunate,  as  we  were,  to  obtain  a  good  one  for  our 
journey  through  the  Gudbransdal. 

We  started  upon  our  novel  journey  from 
LilHehamar  early  in  the  morning, — early  by  the 
clock,  very  late  by  the  sun, — and  a  delightfully 
exciting  departure  it  was.  The  landlord  and  land- 
lady, maids,  hostlers,  and  post-boys  assisted  with 
the  grave  deliberation  of  the  nation,  and  corded  on 
our  portmanteaus,  bags,  and  bundles,  previously 
subjected  in  Christiania  to  as  stringent  limitation 
as  comfort  would  permit,  and  we  were  launched, 
a  fearless,  happy  trio,  upon  our  own  resources  and 
our  diamond  edition  of  Norse  words,  which  en- 
larged itself  a  little  day  by  day.  The  cariole  was 
pronounced  delightful  ;  the  two  in  the  trille  found 
it  satisfactory  :  and,  to  vary  our  experience,  we 
sometimes  exchanged  places  in  the  two  vehicles. 

We  entered  at  once  the  narrow  valley  of  the 
Gudbransdal,  which  extends  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  ;  and  as  far  as  Dombaas,  at  the  end  of 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.  63 


our  second  day,  the  valley  is  rather  level.  The 
mountains  on  either  side  are  nearly  uniform,  the 
lower  slopes  cultivated,  the  heights  covered  with 
pine  forests.  The  Lougen  or  Laugen,  which 
merely  signifies  The  River,  runs  through  the  val- 
lev  ;  sometimes  it  pauses  in  smooth  swirls  which 
broaden  to  a  lake,  but  oftener  it  forces  its  milky- 
blue  waters  into  narrow  channels  and  foams  im- 
petuously over  stones  and  boulders,  gathers  trib- 
ute from  countless  waterfalls  in  trickling  sprays  or 
dashing  torrents,  and  sweeps  down  its  generous 
flood  hundreds  of  huge  trees  felled  from  the  for- 
ests. 

At  Fossegarden,  seven  miles  from  Lilliehamar,  is 
the  cataract  called  Hunerfos  {/os  means  waiei-fall) 
that  arrests  the  swim  of  the  abundant  lake  trout, 
which  consequently  are  here  caught  in  large  num- 
bers. We  sometimes  pass  huge  cairns  of  stones 
which  indicate  the  farmers'  trouble  in  preparing 
their  land  ;   we   obtain  on   some  eminence  an  oc- 


64  JVOJ^lVAV  NIGHTS. 


casional  glimpse  of  the  snow-capped  Rondane 
Mountains,  seven  thousand  feet  high  and  tenanted 
by  reindeer  and  foxes  ;  and  all  the  way  we  see 
patches  of  snow  lingering  in  crevices,  for  the  12th 
of  June  and  the  verdure  around  appeal  to  them 
in  vain  :  many  of  them  will  hide  in  the  peaks  and 
under  ledges  of  rock  all  through  the  summer. 

The  air  is  sweet  and  gracious  ;  the  fields  are 
decked  with  pink  roses,  violets,  aconite,  yellow 
buttercups,  and  other  spontaneous  flowers.  The 
flora  of  Norway  is  said  to  be  very  abundant  for  so 
northern  a  latitude.  Sometimes  a  linnet  in  a  bush 
confesses  the  joy  of  his  heart,  and 

"Sings  each  song  thrice  over. 
Lest  you  should  think 
He  never  can  recapture 
The  first,  fine,  careless  rapture." 

Hares  flit  along  the  brushwood,  harassed  by  no- 
body ;    pied  crows,    perched  on   barns  or  fences, 


THE   GCDBRANSDAL.     '  65 

speculate  on  our  movements  ;  and  now  and  then  a 
magpie  Avith  audacious  eye,  a  bird  superstitiously 
venerated  in  Norway,  tries  to  intercept  our  news. 
Peasants  with  red  woollen  caps,  tassel  hanging 
from  the  peak,  and  odd  paniers  on  their  backs, 
salute  us  with  '' Godmorgen.  *'  Sunburned  chil- 
dren, tidily  dressed,  lift  their  clear  blue  eyes,  but 
never  ask  for  alms.  Triangular  wooden  snow- 
ploughs  now  and  then  are  drawn  up  from  the 
wayside,  suggestive  of  past  and  future  winter, 
which  in  all  this  summer  sheen  seems  an  unsea- 
sonable impossibility. 

Throughout  our  six  days  of  posting  we  had 
nothing  to  say  but  praise — of  men,  women,  and 
accommodations  ;  for  this  is  one  of  the  very  best 
posting  routes  in  the  countr}-.  It  is  easy  enough 
to  find  discomforts  if  one  wanders  away  from  the 
well-beaten  tracks.  The  stations,  which  are  all 
farm-houses  and  bear  the  names  of  their  owners, 
are  from  seven  to  ten   miles  apart.     As  we  drive 


66  NO/?fVAV  NIGHTS. 

into  the  enclosure  we  address  the  first  person  we 
see  with  ''  Godmorgeii ;  vcer  saa  god,  Heste' 
("Good-morning;  if  you  please,  horses").  No 
one  properly  appreciative  of  Norwegian  civility 
would  think  of  omitting  "  Vcer  saa  god.''  Travel- 
lers who  call  out  peremptorily,  '^ Heste,  strap!" 
("Horses,  quick!")  are  in  disfavor  among  these 
quietly  courteous  people,  who  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest  never  enter  a  shop  or  meet  each 
other  without  raising  their  hats  ;  who  invariably 
thank  a  host  or  hostess  after  a  repast  in  the 
words  '' Tak  for  Maden'  ("Thanks  for  the 
food'"),  and  receive  in  reply  a  hearty  "  VelbekoJii- 
men"  ("May  it  do  you  good"),  and  who  even 
express  retrospective  gratitude  by  the  frequent 
phrase  "  Tak/or  sidsf'  ("Thanks  for  the  last  time 
we  met")  !  When  a  vehicle  overtakes  another 
on  a  country  road,  the  driver  who  desires  to  pass 
the  other  invariably  asks  permission,  and  apolo- 
gizes for  so  doing. 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.  67 

While  the  farmer  or  his  boys  are  changing- 
horses  at  the  stations  and  a  new  Skyds-gut,  or  post- 
boy, takes  his  place  on  each  vehicle,  we  enter  the 
sitting-room,  a  pleasant-mannered  woman  shows  us 
ih.^  Dag-bog,  or  visitors' day-book,  where  we  inscribe 
our  names  in  obedience  to  required  custom,  also 
stating  our  destination  and  the  number  of  horses 
we  require.  If  there  are  just  causes  for  complaint, 
travellers  are  requested  to  enter  them  ;  but  these 
are  very  rare,  and  tributes  to  the  comforts  afforded 
are  numerous.  In  fact,  the  farmers  themselves  are 
much  more  likely  to  be  displeased  with  the  hard 
driving  of  their  horses,  and  are  permitted  by  act 
of  Parliament,  if  the  animals  are  injured,  to  de- 
mand an  indemnity,  on  testimony  of  the  post-boy, 
two  other  men  being  called  in  to  confirm  the 
claim  of  injury. 

Throughout  this  valley,  which  is  the  most  com- 
fortable part  of  Norway  for  posting,  the  farm- 
houses are  perfectly  clean,  the  sitting-rooms  cheer- 


68  AOJ?^VAV  NIGHTS. 

ful  with  pots  of  growing  flowers  ;  heirlooms  of 
carved  or  painted  furniture  are  often  seen  ;  views 
of  the  country  and  numerous  family  photographs 
deck  the  walls — the  latter,  it  must  be  said,  some- 
times ludicrously  solemn.  It  is  not  a  handsome 
race,  this  honest,  kindly  race  of  Norway,  and 
the  sun-artist  has  not  learned 
how  to  idealize  by  "touching 
^  up"  their  long,  serious  faces 
%  and  irregular  features.  Al- 
^  ways  we  find  a  few  books  on 
shelves  :  like  the  Icelanders, 
i^i  the    people    are    great    readers 

NORWEGIAN  PEASANT,  ^^^^^^gj^    ^j^^    protractcd    wiu- 

ters.  Education  is  compulsory,  and  English  is 
taught  in  the  higher  schools.  The  only  university 
is  in  Christiania,  and  the  higher  classes  often  send 
their  boys  to  England  to  be  educated,  and  the 
girls  to  Paris  or  Germany  for  accomplishments. 
We  found  the  beds  comfortable  as  to  linen  and 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.  69 

eider-down  pillows  and  duvets  for  cool  nights  ; 
but  they  are  decidedly  Procrustean  for  long-limbed 
sleepers. 

The  food,  served  on  coarse  white  table-linen  wo- 
ven by  hand-looms  in  the  family,  is  wholesome  and 
palatable.  Beef  and  mutton  are  scarcely  known  ; 
but  fish,  generally  trout  fresh  from  the  river,  veal, 
chickens,  game,  ptarmigan  and  wood-grouse,  dried 
reindeer-tongues,  —  delicate  and  savory,  —  good 
coffee,  milk,  eggs,  and  certain  excellent  sweets 
form  a  menu  that  ought  to  satisfy  any  modern 
Lucullus.  Of  course  one  never  finds  them  all  at  a 
single  repast,  fish  and  one  kind  of  meat  or  bird 
being  the  rule.  The  bread  is  of  several  sorts — the 
coarse  family  rye  bread,  w^hite  bread  for  effeminate 
foreigners,  often  imported  English  biscuits,  and  in- 
variably the  national  Fladbrod,  a  round,  very  thin 
and  crisp  cake  about  the  size  of  a  large  dinner- 
plate,  stamped  with  tracery,  and  generally  made 
of  oat  or  rye  meal.      Great  quantities  are  prepared 


70  NOR IV AY  NIGHTS. 

at  a  time  and  stowed  away  in  drawers  and  chests. 
Their  tea  is  not  the  beverage  that  cheers,  and  those 
who  cannot  be  happy  without  tea  would  better  take 
their  own  supply.  Pancakes  form  the  usual  sweet 
dish,  and  are  so  delicate  that  we  soon  learned  to 
ask  for  them  at  every  substantial  meal.  They  are 
generally  accompanied  by  stewed  currants  or  rasp- 
berries and  whipped  cream.  The  butter  is  taste- 
less and  untempting,  and  there  are  no  vegetables 
except  potatoes  and  a  species  of  sorrel.  Necessa- 
rily the  quality  of  the  cooking  varies  ;  we  came 
across  stations  where  the  cordon  bleu  was  decidedl}' 
a  cordon  verl.  The  prices  are  very  1on\-  :  never 
more  than  forty  cents,  American  currency,  for  din- 
ner or  supper  ;  twenty  cents  for  morning  coffee, 
eggs,  and  bread.  We  were  usually  served  by  the 
farmer's  wife  or  daughter,  who  would  speed  us  at 
parting  with  a  kindly  "  Farvel  /'  or  sometimes  by 
a  Pige,  or  young  woman  from  a  neighboring 
farm, — for  there  are  no  servants  in  the  convention- 


THE   GUDBRAXSDAL.  7  I 


al  sense — all  are  on  a  level  among  these  country 
folk.  Of  course  we  added  the  usual  douceur  to 
our  moderate  bill  ;  but  we  heard  afterwards  that 
the  independent  Norwegians  prefer  a  trifling  gift 
in  other  shape,  a  gay-colored  ribbon  or  a  bright 
handkerchief,  accompanied  by  a  pleasant  word — 
if  one  happens  to  know  the  word  !  They  always 
acknowledge  a  gift  of  any  kind  by  a  shake  of  the 
hand — a  custom  which,  in  the  case  of  a  cariole- 
boy  for  instance,  one  would  prefer  "  to  honor  in  the 
breach."  for  the  hand  of  that  personage,  though, 
like  "the  hand  of  Douglas, "  unquestionably  "his 
own,"  is  not  always  immaculate.  By  a  conver- 
sion of  genders  the  cariole-boy  is  sometimes  a  girl. 
A  little  creature  not  more  than  nine  years  old 
was  in  two  instances  deputed  to  sit  behind  on  the 
box  and  drive  back  the  horse.  No  doubt  it  was 
safe  ;  for  the  roads  are  good  at  this  season,  and  the 
animals  are  models  of  integrity. 

After  Fossegarden,  noticeable  for  its  fine  cata- 


72  NORWAY  AVG//TS. 

ract,  the  first  station  of  interest  was  Kirkestuen, 
which  boasts  of  a  quaint  little  church  containing 
some  stiff  Byzantine-like  painted  figures  of  Christ 
with  angels,  an  almost  solitary  instance  of  such 
adornment  in  Norway.  While  we  waited  at  the 
station  to  rest,  a  jolly  old  party,  with  great 
''breadth  of  beam"  and  a  round  face  wreathed  in 
smiles,  stood  still  to  be  sketched,  much  to  the  de- 
light of  his  family.  I  have  no  doubt  he  was  the 
landlord  ;  and,  in  compliment  to  the  Byzantine 
angels,  he  took  an  attitude  as  nearly  as  possible 
like  theirs,  rigid,  ascetic,  with  pendent  arms  and 
monumental  legs,  as  ludicrous  a  combination  as 
could  be  imagined. 

At  the  unpronounceably-named  station  of 
Skjaesggestad  the  dark  red  spire  of  another  antique 
church  is  the  only  prominent  object. 

We  passed  the  first  night  at  the  Listad  farm, 
and  astonished  the  hostess  by  asking  for  a  separate 
room  for  each  of  the  party.      Such  lack  of  socia- 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.  73 


bility  she  could  not  comprehend ;  but  as  she  had 
no   other   guests,  our  persuasions    prevailed,  and 
we  were  soon  ensconced  in  three  enormous  rooms, 
with   a  balcony  looking   upon  sweet  green  fields 
framed   in  forest-covered  hills.      The  air  was  de- 
licious ;  and  supper,  that  important  item  to  trav- 
ellers, made  savory  by  the  sauce  of  good  appetite, 
was  served  in  a  room  decorated  with  pots   of  ivy 
which  stood   in  corners   whence    the    vines    were 
trained  over  the  walls  quite  to  the  ceiling.      Sleep 
seemed  an   impertinence  in  that   long  opalescent 
twilight,  followed,  not  by  night,  but  by  the  sun  ; 
and  until  he  rose  gayly  at  two  o'clock  the  scene 
was  more  fitting   for  Romeo  and  Juliet   than  was 
that    pent-up    balcony    overhanging   the    noisome 
street  in   Verona.      Just  then  the   fair   Capulet  of 
our   party  found  herself   quite    happy   without  a 
]\Iontague,  but 

"When  enchantments  afterwards  befell  "— 


74  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

However,    let  us  avoid  personalities  and   resume 
our  carioles  ! 

The  second  day  offered  more  variety  than  the 
first.  Again  the  Laugen  hurries  its  course,  and 
forms  farther  on  two  cataracts  which  bound  over 
rocks  and  sprinkle  the  fern-clad  cliffs.  Near 
Storklevestad  is  a  house  partly  built  of  timbers 
which  formed  the  one  in  which  was  born  St.  Olaf, 
one  of  the  fierce  evangelist  -  kings  of  the  tenth 
century,  whose  title  to  saintship  rests  upon  his  de- 
struction of  the  temples  of  Odin  and  Thor,  and 
his  propagation  of  the  religion  of  peace  by  battle- 
axe  and  sword  until  his  atrocities  roused  the  whole 
country  against  him. 

"  Norway  never  yet  had  seen 
One  so  beautiful  of  mien, 

One  so  royal  in  attire 
When  in  arms  completely  furnished. 
Harness  gold-inlaid  and  burnished, 

Mantle  like  a  flame  of  fire. 


THE   GUDBRAXSDAL.  75 


'  I  command 
This  land  to  be  a  Christian  land  ; 
And  if  you  ask  me  to  restore 
Your  sacrifices,  stained  with  gore, 
Then  will  I  offer  human  sacrifices — 
Not  slaves  and  peasants  shall  they  be, 
But  men  of  note  and  high  degree.'  " 

On  and  on  runs  the  exhilarating  river  until  it 
pauses  to  sleep  in  a  small  lake  at  Bredevaugen, 
but  wakens  again  when  reinforced  by  two  torrents 
which  are  utilized  to  turn  several  saw-mills.  These 
ordinarily  uncouth  structures  do  not  mar  the 
scenery  in  Norway,  because  the  roofs  are  covered 
with  green  turf,  and  the  pine  logs  lying  about  are 
harmonious  with  gray  and  yellow  lichens. 

We  now  pass  a  very  steep  hill  called  Kringelen, 
which  was  the  scene  in  181 2  of  the  massacre  of  a 
number  of  Scotch  troops  under  Colonel  Sinclair, 
who  had  been  despatched  to  assist  Sweden  in  one 


76  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

of  the  numerous  feuds  between  that  country  and 
its  turbulent  neighbor,  Norway.  In  rashly  at- 
tempting to  pass  through  this  valley  to  Sweden 
they  were  fatally  surprised  by  about  three  hundred 
peasants,  who  hurled  upon  them  from  this  hill  an 
immense  avalanche  of  rocks,  stones,  and  roots  of 
trees  carefully  collected  for  the  purpose.  A  small 
monument  and  a  tablet  in  the  rock  commemorate 
the  disaster. 

The  road  now  rises  gradually  ;  the  valley  be- 
comes dreary  and  desolate ;  there  are  no  farm- 
houses for  several  miles  through  a  desert  of  stones, 
sand,  and  debris  from  the  mountains,  whose  only 
vegetation  is  stunted  pines.  The  few  laborers' 
cabins  are  roofed  with  birch-bark,  covered  with 
turf  which  is  often  prinked  with  bright  flowers 
and  occasionally  afl'ords  footing  for  a  small  birch- 
tree.  A  little  farther  on  we  reach  the  Rusten 
Pass,  a  magnificent  gorge  wooded  thickly  with 
firs   and    birches.        The    mountains    nearly   ap- 


THE  GUDBRANSDAL.  77 

proach  each  other,  the  river  forces  its  way 
through  precipitous  rocks  of  gneiss,  the  air  is  filled 
with  spray  of  innumerable  waterfalls  from  trick- 
ling threads  to  impetuous  torrents,  and  the  whole 
scene  is  wild  and  grand  in  the  extreme.  At  the 
finest  point  of  view  we  cross  the  ravine  by  a  pic- 
turesque wooden  bridge,  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  above  the  foaming  waters.  We  pass  a  pretty 
church,  in  form  of  a  Greek  cross,  entirely  covered 
with  slabs  of  dark  slate,  and  then  reach  Toftmoen, 
which  deserves  mention  as  the  abode  of  a  de- 
scendant of  Harald  Haarfager  (Harold  of  the 
Fair  Hair),  who  in  872  conquered  and  fused  into 
one  the  numerous  small  earldoms  of  Norwav. 
He  had  offered  his  warlike  heart  to  a  haughty 
beauty  named  Gyda,  who  replied  that  she  would 
never  marry  the  chief  of  a  few  insignificant  prov- 
inces ;  only  the  throne  of  an  absolute  sovereign 
would  tempt  her.  To  hear  was  to  obey.  The  im- 
petuous wooer   registered  a  vow  to  Odin   and  all 


78  Ao/^H^'Ay  nights. 

the  other  gods  that  he  would  neither  comb  nor 
cut  his  hair  until  he  had  fairly  won  his  suit,  which 
he  did  at  the  decisive  battle  of  Halfursfiord.  The 
ambitious  lady  kept  her  promise,  but  history  does 
not  report  whether  she  found  herself  happy  in 
sharing  her  matrimonial  honors  with  eight  other 
wives,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  period. 
Harald  Haarfager's  crown  was  by  no  means  a 
comfortable  ornament,  for  the  dissatisfied  prov- 
inces gave  him  endless  trouble  by  their  internal 
feuds  ;  but  the  Viking  chiefs  emigrated  in  large 
numbers,  visited  the  entire  sea-coast  of  Europe, 
made  permanent  homes  in  Scotland,  Ireland, 
and  Iceland,  and  even  drifted  to  the  shores  of 
America.  It  was  in  the  reign  of  this  ancestor  of 
Herr  Toftmoen  that  the  Viking  ship  previously 
mentioned  was  buried  at  Godstad.  The  lonely 
farm-house  where  we  paused  gives  no  external  in- 
dication of  royal  lineage  ;  but  the  owner  is  consid- 
ered passing  rich,  and  keeps  four  hundred  horses, 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.  79 


two  hundred  sheep,  and  fifty  goats   in   his   stables 
all  the  winter. 

When  King  Carl.  XIII.  stopped  at  this  station 
to   dine  in    i860,  on    his  way    to   Trondhjem    to 
be  crowned,  the  uncle  of  the  present  landlord  sent 
word  to  his  Majesty  that  it    was    unnecessary    to 
unpack  his  travelling-case  of  silver,  as  there  was 
quite  enough  in  the  house  for  the  entire  suite  of 
forty  persons  ;  and  when  the  dinner  was  served, 
this  descendant  of  the  Haarfager  asserted  his  ro}al 
rank  by  dining  also  at  the  side  of  the   king.      The 
family  pride  runs  in   the   blood   still,  though   they 
are  simple  folk  enough.      One  of  them  showetl  us 
some  of  their  antique  relics,  which   are  used  even 
now  on  proper  occasions — a  high  silver  wedding- 
crown,  decked  with  colored  stones  but  not  jewels, 
which  had  rested  on  many  a  fair  head  in  genera- 
tions long  past ;  silver  chains,  brooches,  rings,  and 
a  girdle   worn   on   the  same   occasions,    some   of 
which  we  wickedly  coveted,  as  curios. 


So  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

One  of  the  sitting-rooms  in  this  ancient  house 
was  dazzhng  to  behold  :  a  bright  blue  dado 
half-way  up,  and  the  remainder,  together  with  the 
rafters,  bright  pale-yellow  !  The  pantries  and 
closets  were  exhibited  with  housewifely  pride,  as 
well  as  an  enormous  key  with  most  complicated 
w^ards  which  hung  in  the  entrance-hall,  souvenir 
of  a  past  habitation.  The  boys  of  ten  and  twelve 
years  who  drove  us  to  the  next  station  were  sons 
and  heirs  to  this  primitive  wealth — frank,  good- 
humored  little  chaps  who  amused  themselves 
and  us  by  repeating  a  few  English  words  which 
seemed  to  them  intensely  funny.  Their  laughter 
was  contagious,  and  we  arrived  in  merry  mood  at 
1 1  o'clock  at  Dombaas,  our  station  for  the  night. 

Eleven  o'clock — only  the  edge  of  the  evening 
in  these  high  twilight-latitudes  !  We  met  two 
gentlemen  just  sallying  out  for  a  walk ;  cocks 
and  hens  were  picking  up  vesper  crumbs,  and 
the  house-dogs    on    hospitable   qui  vive   like    the 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.     .  8 1 

master  and  the  maids.  And  yet  by  four  or  five 
the  next  morning  all  the  household  would  be 
astir.  We  often  asked,  "Do  you  never  sleep  in 
summer.?"  "O,  yes,  but  we  sleep  in  winter," — 
implying  that  the  brief,  beautiful  summer  was  for 
siesta  merely. 

Any  artificial  light  is  of  course  out  of  the 
question,  and  w-e  rarely  even  saw  a  candle  in 
the  bedrooms.  As  the  windows  have  usually 
only  white  muslin  shades,  the  full  blaze  of  the 
sun,  two  or  three  hours  after  going  to  bed,  in  a 
room  where  his  evening  reflections  still  lingered, 
was  more  poetic  than  pleasing,  and  we  were  often 
compelled  to  darken  the  windows  with  shawls 
and  rugs. 

We  had  ascended  from  Toftmoen  over  great 
stony  barren  plains  to  the  plateau,  two  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea,  on  which  stands  the  farm-house 
of  Herr  Dombaas,  externally  bare  and  without 
ornament  of  trees,  but  within  doors  the  most  at- 


82  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

tractive  of  all  the  Norway  stations.  The  intelli- 
gent and  obliging  landlord  greeted  us  at  the  door 
in  excellent  English,  which  was  a  joy  to  our  ears 
after  two  days  of  unmitigated  Norsk.  The  en- 
trance-hall was  hung  with  white  bear-skins  and 
the  pretty  white  fox-skins,  the  expressive  heads 
undetached  ;  while  above  stretched  the  arms  of 
fine  branching  antlers.  The  sitting-room  had 
a  very  homelike  aspect,  with  readable  books  and 
comfortable  sofas.  The  air  was  pure  and  brac- 
ing, and  we  were  very  glad  to  repose  in  this 
pleasant  place  for  two  nights.  Herr  Dombaas 
owns  one  of  the  best  Setters,  or  mountain 
dairies,  in  Norway.  In  these  saiters  one  may 
see  life  reduced  to  its  primitive  elements.  They 
are  rude  log-cabins  with  the  usual  tiny  roof,  on 
mountain  plateaux,  sometimes  three  thousand  feet 
high,  to  which  in  summer  the  farmers  send  two 
or  three  of  their  daughters  with  the  cows  and 
goats.       The  large  room    serves  as   sitting-room, 


THE   GUDBRAXSDAL.  83 


bedroom,  and  .kitchen.  Those  remaining  form 
the  dairy — all  very  clean,  and  the  floors  strewn,  as 
they  are  in  some  parts  of  the  farm-houses,  with 
sweet-scented  fir-branches.  A  writer  in  the  Lon- 
dun  Graphic  says:  ''There  are  two  beds,  and  a 
belated  traveller  is  always  welcome  to  one  of  them  ; 
{q)X  while  purer-minded  maidens  do  not  exist  than 
these  mountain-lassies,  there  is  no  false  modesty 
about  them,  nor  have  we  ever  heard  of  their  hos- 
pitality being  abused.  No  sooner  does  a  traveller 
set  foot  inside  of  the  door  than  one  of  them  ap- 
pears with  a  huge  bowl  of  milk,  of  which  it  would 
be  the  greatest  possible  rudeness  to  refuse  to  par- 
take. Of  tips  they  are  delightfully  ignorant,  but 
they  thoroughly  appreciate  the  gift  of  a  bright- 
colored  handkerchief  or  of  a  packet  of  English 
needles. " 

But  while  the  life  on  these  lonely  mountains  de- 
velops great  simplicity  and  integrity  of  character, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  traditions   of  the  gnomes 


84  JVO/^lVAV  AIGHTS. 


who  once  mixed  their  weird  loves  and  hates  with 
the  impulses  of  humanity  should  still  cast  shadows 
of  superstition  upon  these  primitive  abodes  ;  and 
we  must  be  lenient  to  the  fear  of  the  saeter-maid, 
who  when  her  swain  comes  up  for  his  Sunday 
visit  hopes  he  will  not  be  ensnared  on  the  way  by 
the  Huldr,  a  tall  fair  woman  in  yellow  bodice  and 
blue  skirt,  with  golden  hair  flowing  over  her 
shoulders,  who  sits  on  a  rock,  sewine^  or  knitting, 
for  the  malign  purpose  of  stealing  men's  hearts 
from  their  lawful  owners.  Fortunately,  the  inces- 
sant toil  of  the  dairy  leaves  little  time  for  fancies  ; 
the  milk  of  sheep,  goats,  and  cows  requires  much 
persuasion  before  it  consents  to  assume  its  various 
names.  The  "  gamle  Ost, "  or  old  cheese,  as 
one  quality  becomes  in  course  of  time,  might  well 
be  omitted  from  the  catalogue  according  to  An- 
glo-Saxon ideas,  for  it  salutes  the  olfactories  in  the 
same  overpowering  way  as  the  notorious  Lim- 
burger,    and  must    be    brought  to  the  table  in  a 


THE  GUDBRANSDAL.  85 


covered  glass  dish,  which  is  as  carefully  opened  as 
a  bottle  with  a  live  reptile  in. 

The  necessity  for  rest  and  letter-writing  de- 
prived us  one  day  of  a  promised  excursion  on  the 
Dovre  Fjeld,  the  most  famous  of  the  mountain- 
ranges,  and  the  one  which  separates  Southern 
from  Northern  Norway.  There  are  no  well-de- 
fined chains  as  in  Switzerland,  and  therefore  no 
"passes,"  in  the  Swiss  sense,  but  vast  elevated  pla- 
teaux, from  which  rise  mountain-peaks  some- 
times to  the  height  of  eight  thousand  feet,  and 
occasionally  too  precipitous  for  the  snow  to  lie 
upon  them.  Above  the  range  of  the  forests  these 
plateaux  are  covered  with  stones  and  boulders  dis- 
integrated by  frost.  Of  the  Dovre  Fjeld,  Baedeker 
says:  "A  great  part  of  the  route  traverses  lofty, 
bleak,  and  treeless  solitudes,  rock-strewn  tracts, 
swamps,  gloomy  lakes,  and  blackened  masses  of 
snow.  The  solemn  grandeur  of  the  scene,  how- 
ever, has  a  peculiar  weird  attraction  of  its  own. 


86  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 


and  the  pure  air  is  remarkably  healthful  and  ex- 
hilarating. "  There  is  compensation  even  in  these 
desolate  wastes  to  sportsmen,  geologists,  and  bot- 
anists. Another  writer  speaks  of  the  abundance 
and  variety  of  mosses  and  lichens  clothing  the 
rocks  with  rich  colors,  and  adds  that  after  one 
passes  the  crest  of  the  Fjeld  and  descends  to  the 
station  of  Kongsvold  one  finds  it  filled  with  Scan- 
dinavian botanists,  who  are  attracted  by  the  great 
variety  of  Alpine  flora.  He  says  :  "  It  is  comical 
to  see  detachments  of  professors  and  students 
sallying  forth  in  the  early  morning  with  their  gayly- 
colored  tin  cases  slung  around  them.  In  the 
afternoon  they  return  laden  with  floral  treasures 
which  they  spread  before  the  house  on  masses  of 
blotting-paper,  kept  from  flying  away  by  large 
stones.  Many,  nay,  most  of  these  good  people 
can  speak  a  little  English,  and  when  once  the 
natural  reserve  or  shyness  so  characteristic  of  the 
Norwegian  is  broken  through,  pleasanter  or  more 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.  87 

entertaining  companions  could  scarcely  be  found. " 
We  would  gladly  have  looked  upon  the  stern 
heights  which  frown  over  the  lovely  valley  we 
had  just  passed,  for  everything  in  nature  responds 
to  some  experience  or  some  imagination  of 
many-sided  humanity  ;  but  as  we  had  permitted 
ourselves  the  liberty  of  choice  only,  not  of  com- 
bination, this  excursion  was  projected  into  some 
shadowy  by-and-by,  and  we  turned  our  horses' 
heads  towards  the  more  than  compensating  valley 
of  the  Romsdal. 

By  the  calendar  that  morning  it  was  the  15th  of 
June  :  by  the  wind  that  blew  down  from  the 
snows  of  the  Dovre  Fjeld  it  was  the  15th  of  De- 
cember ;  and  the  numerous  warm  wraps  packed 
for  use  in  the  Arctic  Circle  were  all  put  in  requisi- 
tion. In  fact,  we  never  again  found  them  so  es- 
sential. But  as  we  gradually  descended,  the  cold 
winds  remained  above,  the  mercury  rose  to  its  sea- 
sonable altitude,  and  the  air  was  most  exhilarating. 


^'0/^}VAV  NIGHTS. 


One  must  be  prepared  in  Norway  even  more  than 
in  Switzerland  for  heat  in  the  valleys  and  winter 
cold  on  the  heights  ;  but  our  experience  found  the 
temperature  usually  very  equable.  The  day's  drive 
was  delightful,  but  not  especially  picturesque  ;  the 
Romsdal  was  still  beyond  sight,  but  we  learned 
that  for  fishermen  and  huntsmen  this  region  is  a 
paradise.  All  the  way  from  Lilliehamar  the  guide- 
books indicate  detours  for  these  healthful  amuse- 
ments and  for  mountain  excursions.  We  had  left 
the  Lougen  several  miles  behind,  and  as  we  neared 
Stueflatten,  our  station  for  the  night,  the  road 
skirts  the  Rauma,  which  just  presents  itself  in  a 
narrow,  precipitous  ravine  through  which  it  tum- 
bles in  roaring  haste.  The  solitary  farm-house 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  gorge,  and  enjoys  oppor- 
tunities to  ''muse  o'er  flood  and  fell  "  that  must 
be  maddening  when  enforced  the  year  round.  It 
may  have  been  this  which  had  petrified  the  pretty 
girl   who  served  our  supper  into  a  statue  of  sad 


yo  NOJ^WAY  NIGHTS. 

silence ;  not  a  muscle  of  her  face  moved  in  re- 
sponse to  our  admiration  of  the  pale-yellow  carna- 
tions in  the  window,  or  of  the  perfection  of  the 
"pankagen."  I  peeped  into  the  quaint  kitchen 
and  asked  permission  to  sketch  the  characteristic 
chimney.  The  whole  household  inspected  as  the 
work  went  on,  and  suggested  sundry  additions 
behind  the  foreground  and  beyond  the  linear 
perspective  which  if  followed  out  would  have 
compelled  me  to  tear  down  a  wall  and  make  the 
drawing  from  the  outside. 

After  the  road  leaves  Stueflatten  it  descends  by 
a  series  of  rapid  zigzags,  and  within  a  distance  of 
seven  miles  there  is  a  marvellous  succession  of 
beautiful  waterfalls,  some  of  them  tumbling  be- 
tween perpendicular  walls  of  basalt  rocks  until 
they  culminate  in  the  grand  Slettefos.  Here  we 
alighted  and  crossed  the  river  over  a  bridge  of 
pine-logs  to  a  ledge  below  the  overhanging  rocks, 
where  the   roar  is   loudly    reverberated.      "Flood 


THE   GUDBRANSDAL.  9 1 


upon  flood  hurries  on,  never  ending,"  of  waters 
lashed  into  foam  between  black  ledges  from  which 
fronds  of  fern  and  slender  trees  sway  and  quiver 
in  the  sw^ep  of  the  cataract.  As  we  stood  there,  a 
tiny  hand  holding  a  bunch  of  wild-flowers  w^as 
suddenly  held  before  us — only  a  hand  and  nothing 
more,  till  we  turned  and  saw  an  elfin  creature  not 
more  than  six  years  old,  who  had  scrambled  down 
from  a  grassy  knoll  among  the  trees.  Imagine  a 
life  bounded  by  the  cabin  above  and  the  torrent 
below ! 

But  we  must  pursue  our  road.  Again  and 
again,  fringes  of  silvery  threads  all  adown  the 
stately  hills!  The  rushing  river  sometimes  pauses 
to  take  breath,  sometimes  concentrates  its  foam- 
ing waters  for  mad  leaps  over  stones  and  bould- 
ers ;  the  mountains  on  either  side  approach,  again 
they  recede,  once  more  they  narrow  the  path,  as 
if  petrified  in  some  rhythmic  measure,  and  here 
at  last  we  are  in  the  vallev  of 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE    ROMSDAL. 


ALAS  !  already  bankrupt  in  adjectives,  my 
nouns  and  verbs  tattered  and  torn  with  con- 
stant use,  and  the  "courteous  reader'  yawning  over 
the  debris,  I  am  sorely  tempted  to  treat  this  new 
claimant  in  the  happy  manner  of  "The  Snakes  of 
Ireland  " — There  is  no  Romsdal  valley  in  Norway  ! 
Yet  I  do  indeed  remember  a  panoramic  dream  of 
lofty  pinnacles  and  serrated  crags,  four  thousand 
to  seven  thousand  feet  high,  fitly  called  the 
Witches'  Peaks,  baptized  by  waterfalls  galore, 
foaming  cataracts,  and  veils  of  finest  spray  which 
sparkle  through  dark  pines  and  firs  till  they  meet 
the  river  rushing  through  the  curves  of  its  rocky 
bed,  mountains  on  either  side  closing  the  path  at 
intervals  as  in  a  cul-de-sac  :  and  at  last  the  Roms- 


THE  ROMSDAL.  93 


dalshorn,  with  sharply  shattered  summit,  overtops 
and  sentinels  them  all  at  the  end  of  the  valley. 
Then  the  mountains  recede  on  either  side ;  a 
broad  green  meadow  flecked  with  purple  violets 
sweeps  towards  the  Romsdal  fiord,  and  the  Rauina, 
now  transformed  into  the  most  peaceful  of  streams, 
glides  towards  the  same  goal. 

At  one  point  in  this  plain  stands  a  large  white 
house,  formerly  a  hotel,  but  now  the  summer  resi- 
dence of  an  English  gentleman.  We  afterwards 
met  on  a  steamer  several  of  his  relatives  who  were 
invited  there  to  pass  the  summer,  making  alto- 
gether a  party  of  fourteen  enviable  people. 

The  road  westward  from  this  point  runs  through 
a  charming  park-like  expanse  supposed  to  be  the 
covered  and  clothed  remains  of  an  old  glacier  mo- 
raine. The  Romsdal  fiord  opens  before  us  ;  the 
quaint  village  of  Verblungnaes  nestles  upon  it 
under  the  brow  of  a  mountain.  We  preferred  the 
station  of  Naes,  as  it  commands  a  better  view  of 


94  A'0J?M^\4V  NIGHTS. 

the  Romsdal  range,  and  has  the  advantage  of  a 
new  hotel  in  freer  air.  At  ten  o'clock  at  night  we 
walked  out  to  gather  lilies  of  the  valley,  which 
grew  in  profusion  thereabouts.  The  Trolltinderne, 
or  "Witches'  Peaks,"  uplifted  fingers  of  fire  to- 
wards the  blue  serene  ;  the  Romsdalshorn,  and  yet 
loftier  crests  of  the  Vengetinder,  glowed  in  crim- 
son with  deep  purple  shadows  ;  and  the  plaintive 
iteration  of  the  cuckoo  made  the  best  of  his  lim- 
ited minor  thirds — a  bird  mcompn's,  who  is  al- 
ways moaning  that  the  ideals  of  his  heart  are  de- 
nied the  expression  of  the  gifted  tenors  and  so- 
pranos whose  music 

"  Bubbles,  ripples  up  the  dome 
In  sprays  of  silvery  trilling  ; 
Like  endless  fountain's  lyric  foam, 
Still  falling,  still  refilling." 

The  next  day  two  of  us  drove  back  over  a  part 
of  the  Romsdal,  to  renew  and  deepen  its  impres- 


THE  ROMSDAL.  95 


sion.  We  walked  in  search  of  the  finest  points  ; 
we  gazed,  analyzed,  compared,  and  then  decided 
that  we  could  7iot  decide.  Artists  come  there  with 
canvas  and  colors,  but  the  rich  enibarrassm^ni 
mocks  their  selection. 

The  next  morning,  with  Norwegian  leisureliness, 
at  seven  o'clock  we  started  on  the  steamer  for  Vest- 
naes,  whence  we  were  to  post  to  Soholt.  The  fiord 
at  first  entrance  looked  like  an  inland  lake,  and 
the  mountains  around  and  behind  gleamed  in  the 
morning  sun  with  distinct  individuality  of  form. 
The  steamers  on  all  these  fiords  not  only  cross 
and  recross  to  opposite  sides,  but  they  also  run 
into  all  the  little  tributaries  where  a  hamlet  or 
post-station  exists,  thus  traversing  a  great  deal  of 
space  and  affording  a  good  opportunity  to  scan 
the  people.  One  sees  many  pretty  hamlets  nearly 
aUvavs  under  watch  and  ward  of  a  white  church 
on  the  hillside,  and  a  cascade  or  two  of  more  or 
less    pretension.       The    steamer   landed   us    at    a 


g6  A'ORJVAY  NIGHTS. 

grassy  slope  whence  a  shaded  path  led  to  the  post- 
station,  and  our  impedimenta  followed  after  a 
long  interval,  under  conduct  of  the  only  positively 
stupid  boy  we  encountered  in  the  journey. 

At  once  we  became  the  cynosure  of  a  hundred 
eyes  much  enlarged  for  the  occasion,  belonging  to 
a  troop  of  Sunday-dressed  boys  and  girls  who  were 
to  be  confirmed,  though  it  was  not  Sunday,  in  the 
church  near  by.  They  crowded  round  us  while 
we  engaged  vehicles  for  Soholt,  the  next  station, 
but  preserved  a  civil  immobility  of  feature  when 
our  Norsk  gave  out  disgracefully  in  certain  unex- 
pected exigencies.  We  obtained  a  cariole,  but  no 
trille  was  to  be  seen  among  the  dozen  dilapidated, 
unpainted,  and  extraordinary  carts  that  were  scat- 
tered about  the  premises  ;  for  in  Norway  there  are 
no  sheds  for  vehicles  outside  of  cities.  So  we 
were  fain  to  put  up  with  the  novelty  of  a  Sfoelk- 
jcer7'e,  a  heavy  springless  cart  seating  two  persons 
and  a  post-boy  behind  them.      There  was  doubt 


CTiUKCH    I\    GUDBRANSDAL. 


98  NORWAY  NliiHTS. 

about  our  obtaining  even  that,  until  there  came 
to  the  rescue  the  sister  of  the  station-master,  a 
very  conscious  and  smihng  beauty,  who  must 
have  been  the  belle  of  the  neighborhood,  for  she 
was  not  only  pretty,  but  well  endowed  in  other 
ways.  She  had  learned  ' '  a  few  English '"  at 
schoc^l  in  Molde,  and  not  a  few  exotic  graces. 
Like  the  descendants  of  Harald  Haarfager,  the 
family  are  pecuniarily  independent  and  not  over- 
pleased  to  be  subsidized  by  the  government  to  en- 
tertain strangers.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  at  some 
future  time  all  this  part  of  Norway  may  be  ruined 
by  railways — and  then,  farewell  forever  to  its 
charm  of  simplicity  and  freshness.  Already  evil 
spirits  are  suggesting  one  from  Lilliehamar  to  the 
western  coast  through  the  Gudbransdal  and 
Romsdal  valle\s  ;  and  the  only  salvation  from  such 
a  calamity  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  foreign  travel 
is  limited  to  about  three  months  of  the  year,  and 
the  commercial  gain  would  be  too  trifling  to  com- 


77//:    ROMSDAL.  99 

})ensate-  the  expense.  Those  who  desire  to  see 
Norway  before  the  army  of  summer  locusts  have 
tlevoured  every  green  leaf  of  its  honest  forest-life 
would  better  go  there  as  soon  as  may  be,  leaving 
behind  all  superfluity  of  dress  and  impatience  of 
speech  and  manner.  In  truth,  no  one  ought  to 
visit  it  who  does  not  worship  nature  more  than 
fashion  ;  those  who  care  only  to  roll  from  a  Pull- 
man car  into  a  liveried  hotel,  to  run  through  pic- 
ture-galleries and  buy  diamonds, 

*■  to  lord  it  o'er  their  fellow-men 
With  most  prevailing  tinsel  " — 

will  find  n«>  other  welcome  than 

"  /^rocitl,  procul,  profani  /" 

Our   first   trial    of  the   springless  stoelkjaerre  was 
happily  our    last.      It  w^as    not   a    flowery  bed    of 
ease  :    the  horse  crept   when    the   road    was  level, 
but  dasheil  up  hill  and  down  hill  with  a  \igor  that 


lOO  A^OJ^M^AV  NIGHTS. 

left  no  doubt  either  of  his  own  good  intentions  or 
of  the  consequences  to  ourselves.  The  happy  in- 
dividual in  the  cariole  was  not  disturbed,  but  the 
tenants  of  the  stoelkjaerre  have  never  solved  the 
problem  which  was  the  largest  factor  in  that  drive, 
the  misery  or  the  mirth. 

Very  shortly  after  our  first  starting  we  passed 
a  church  with  sloping,  red-tiled  roof  where  the 
boys  and  girls  we  encountered  at  the  station  were 
now  receiving  the  rite  of  confirmation.  This  cere- 
money  is  compulsory  and  marks  an  important  era 
in  life,  for  no  one  can  be  married  or  obtain  a 
situation  in  a  factory  or  office  before  passing 
through  it.  The  newspapers  advertise  for  a  "  con- 
firmed young  man  as  clerk,"  or  "a  confirmed 
young  woman  as  seamstress,"  etc.  This  is  not 
a  purely  ecclesiastical  observance  as  would  be  sup- 
posed, for  it  is  preceded  by  at  least  six  weeks"  ear- 
nest instruction  by  the  parish  clergyman  and  his 
assistant,  not  only  in  theology  but  in  many  useful 


THE   ROMS  DAL.  lOI 


practical  branches  ;  examinations  follow  which 
must  be  satisfactory,  or  the  pupil  is  remandetl  Inr 
another  course.  Confirmation  is  therefore  a  testi- 
monial of  a  certain  degree  of  knowledge  and  of 
good  character.  Both  boys  and  girls  are  then 
supposed  to  be  prepared  for  the  duties  of  life. 
The  religion  is  Lutheran,  from  which  there  is  no 
dissent ;  it  is  partly  under  government  control,  at 
least  so  far  as  church  property  is  concerned,  for 
bishops  and  priests  are  maintained  by  funded  rev- 
enues, and  their  widows  and  children  provided  for 
by  a  special  appropriation.  It  is  said  that  the 
Norwegians  have  great  reverence  and  affection  ft)r 
their  church,  and  that  the  clergy  are  remarkably 
intelligent  and  influential  men.  Some  of  them 
are  members  of  Parliament,  but  not  ex  officio — 
merely  as  laymen. 

Our  road  for  several  miles  la\-  through  smooth 
green  plains,  bright  with  wild-flowers,  through 
which  ran  a  little   arm   of  the  fiord  that  reflected 


JV07^lVAV  NIGHTS. 


the  log-cabins  of  the  owners  of  the  land  ;  then  a 
gay  little  torrent  marked  the  way  to  a  narrow  val- 
ley, which  gradually  ascended  to  bare  and  treeless 
mountains.  We  changed  horses  at  the  only  really 
poor  station  we  had  seen,  Ellengsgaard,  a  mere 
peasant's  dwelling,  dirty  and  displeasing.  Hap- 
pily we  could  dispense  with  food,  and  gladly 
pushed  onward  through  a  very  dreary  region  for 
three  hours,  until  we  made  an  abrupt  descent  into 
a  sheltered  valley  where  smiling  vegetation,  pleas- 
ant farms,  and  the  blue  Stor  fiord  indicated  our 
arrival  at  Soholt,  a  cluster,  or  rather  a  street,  of 
white  and  red  houses  that  follows  the  shore  and 
offers  all  essential  comforts  to  tourists  in  the  new 
and  clean  Alexandra  hotel.  Supper  and  sleep 
were  very  welcome  that  night  after  the  early  morn- 
ing boat,  the  jolting  stoelkjserre  and  the  too-gen- 
erous warmth  of  the  sun.  The  landlord  of  the 
hostelry,  named  Ramussen,  talks  English  fluently, 
for  he  was  a  laborer  six  or  seven  years  on   an  Illi- 


THE  ROMS  DAL.  lOJ 


nois  farm,  returned  with  his  savings  to  ''Gamle 
Xorge. "  built  his  inn,  and  then  "they  were  mar- 
ried :"  and  we  hope  they  will  ''live  happily  ever 
after,"  for  he  is  a  good-hearted,  honest  son  of  the 
soil  who  deserves  to  prosper.  We  were  s}mpa- 
thetic  with  his  pride  in  his  new  belongings,  in  his 
store  of  household  linen,  and  the  new  mattresses  ; 
and  when  he  asked  us  whether  it  was  better  to 
leave  the  unpainted  pine  walls  of  some  of  the 
chambers  as  they  were  or  to  paper  them,  we  of 
course  voted  against  the  paper. 

The  steamer,  fettered  by  no  horological  laws, 
was  nearly  two  hours  late  the  next  morning. 
After  preliminary  study  of  guide-books,  gathering 
of  wild-flowers,  and  much  discursive  chat,  we  were 
fain  to  betake  ourselves  to  the  one  shop  of  the  vil- 
lage to  lay  in  a  small  stock  of  the  national  pipes 
made  of  some  dark  polished  wood,  and  soon 
found  ourselves  the  target  of  many  feminine  eyes, 
which  took  in  all  the  details   of  our  dresses,  and, 


I04  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

aided  by  fingers,  even  remarked  with  signal  ap- 
proval the  confidential  embroideries  beneath. 
At  last  the  tardy  steamer,  with  little  to  do  and  a 
great  deal  of  time  to  do  it  in,  puffed  around  the 
promontory,  and  we  were  soon  ensconced  for  the 
next  ten  hours  in  a  favorable  position  for  studying 
the  fiord  and  its  confluents.  The  views  were  very 
varied,  of  green  meadows  with  background  of 
mountains  traversed  by  the  inevitable  waterfalls, 
uplying  farms,  tiny  red  hamlets  on  the  shore, 
quaint-looking  people,  and  fishermen  in  quiet 
nooks,  with  their  log-houses  perched  on  ledges  of 
the  cliffs.  We  crossed  and  recrossed  continually, 
taking  on  and  putting  off  cargo,  and  parties  of 
peasants  who  were  a  study  in  manners  and  dress. 
There  are  no  very  distinctive  costumes  here  as  in 
some  other  parts  of  Norway ;  the  men  wear  very 
loose,  one  might  almost  say  floiving,  coats,  short 
waistcoats,  gay  neckties,  and  high  felt  hats  when 
in  ''full    dress"' — ordinarily   they   dispense  with  a 


THE  ROMS  DAL.  105 


coat ;  the  women  wear  short  dark  woollen  skirts, 
white  bodies,  bright  or  white  handkerchiefs  on 
their  heads,  and  silver  brooches  and  chains  of  an- 
tique make.  A  large  wedding-party  came  on 
board  in  this  attire  and  with  an  air  of  solemnity 
that  included  even  the  violinist,  who  appeared 
much  more  ready  for  an  epitaph  than  an  epithala- 
mium.  The  bride  w^as  not  of  the  number ;  and 
the  groom,  a  stalwart  young  fellow  in  brown  coat 
and  scarlet  cravat,  soon  found  himself  unequal  to 
the  embarrassing  occasion  and  shyly  retired  out 
of  sight.  When  the  landing-point  was  reached  he 
reappeared,  full  of  care  for  certain  barrels  which 
he  and  his  ' '  best  man"'  rolled  on  shore,  contain- 
ing, we  were  told,  supplies  for  the  wedding- feast, 
beer,  fladbrod,  cheese,  and  sweet  cakes.  Several 
quiet  cheers  and  exclamations  of  "  GW  Held!" 
(''Good  luck  !")  saluted  their  departure  ;  and  we 
waved  our  handkerchiefs,  wishing  that  we  had  an 
invitation  to  the  ceremony.      The  party  was  to  pro- 


lo6  A^0RH\4y  AVG//TS. 

ceed  to  the  home  of  the  bride,  two  or  three  miles 
distant,  and  the  festivities,  lasting  three  days,  would 
begin  on  their  arrival.  The  marriage  takes  place 
at  the  church  always  on  Sunday  ;  each  guest  brings 
a  present,  and  the  bride  wears  the  silver  girdle 
and  frontlet  and  the  high  silver  crown  which  in- 
vests every  Norwegian  girl  with  queenly  honors 
for  one  day  in  her  life,  and  then  these  ornaments 
are  laid  away  until  another  bride  comes  to  claim 
them.  Another  party  landed  to  attend  a  pro- 
tracted religious  meeting  in  which  fasting  was  not 
a  feature,  as  they  also  were  furnished  with  barrels 
of  provisions.  The  trunks  and  boxes  that  came 
and  went  were  curiosities  for  a  museum.  They 
were  usually  painted  in  bright  colors,  such  as  a 
dark-blue  ground  with  red  and  vellow  flowers,  to 
which  the  dates  were  added  :  we  noticed  one 
dated  1782,  and  another  still  fit  for  service  revealed 
a  world  of  domestic  contentment  in  the  figures 
1689! 


THE  ROMS  DAL.  107 


As  we  proceeded  down  the  Nord  fiord  the 
mountains  became  higher  and  more  imposing, 
until  the  steamer  turned  ahnost  at  right  angles 
into  that  superb  water-defile,  the  Geiranger  fiord, 
which  one  writer  pronounces  the  "  culmination  of 
all  the  fiords  of  that  region,  its  only  rival  in  Nor- 
way, perhaps  in  the  world,  being  the  Nero  fiord, 
which  it  resembles. "'  Its  dark,  unmeasured  depths 
are  walled  by  rocky  clifts,  often  perpendicular, 
which  rise  to  the  height  of  three  thousand  to  four 
thousand  feet.  Countless  light,  gauzy  waterfalls 
descend  from  their  summits,  often  uniting  in  one 
roaring  mass  ;  stunted  firs  and  birches  cling  where- 
ever  their  roots  can  find  support,  and  adventurous 
flowers  sway  from  the  crevices.  Our  liciurd  path 
is  so  narrow  and  the  curves  so  abrupt  that  the 
steamer  sometimes  appears  to  be  running  sharply 
against  the  rocks,  while  the  spray  of  the  falls 
bathes  it  in  a  gentle  shower.  When  winter  reigns 
supreme,  avalanches  of  snow  and  stones  thunder 


THE  ROMSDAL.  1 09 


down  from  these  majestic  bastions,  whose  tops  are 
never  touched  by  the  sun,  except  for  a  brief  hour 
or  two  at  high  noon.  And  yet  in  this  awful  soH- 
tude  a  few  human  beings  Hve  and  move  and  pre- 
serve their  being.  We  saw  two  cabins  on  differ- 
ent mountains,  almost  overhanging  the  ledge  like 
eagles'  nests.  The  small  grassy  plateaux  on  which 
they  stand  are  at  least  two  thousand  feet  from  the 
black  flood  below  ;  an  apparently  perpendicular 
path  and  a  tiny  boat  forming  the  only  means  of 
communication  with  the  world.  A  cow  that 
grazes  on  the  mountain-top,  and  perhaps  a  couple 
of  goats,  furnish  milk.  Goats  and  babies  are  teth- 
ered to  the  threshold  or  the  rocks,  but  adults  have 
occasionally  by  a  fatal  misstep  been  precipitated, 

'■  Low  and  lower,  to  their  watery  graves, 
With  downward  face  and  wide-spread  hair!" 

When  a  death  occurs  in  winter,  the  body  is  laid 
away    in  snow  until  the  return  of  spring  permits 


NORIVAY  NIGHTS. 


interment  in  the  nearest  village  cemetery.  It  is 
inconceivable  that  all  the  fulness  of  our  generous 
planet  should  offer  nothing  but  this  perilous,  des- 
olate scrap  of  earth  to  these  poor  families.  They 
possess,  to  be  sure,  the  rare  boon  of  pure  air  and 
unadulterated  food,  such  as  it  is,  and  would 
doubtless  answer  our  fretful  inquiry,  "  Is  life  worth 
living?"  from  a  standpoint  very  remote  from  ours; 
but  we,  from  the  plane  below,  recalled  the  remark 
of  Theophile  Gautier  when  visiting  the  Escorial: 
"Whenever  hereafter  I  find  myself  bored  or  un- 
happy, I  shall  be  consoled  in  remembering  that  I 
might  be  at  the  Escorial  and  that  I  am  not  there.'" 
On  the  whole,  for  a  short  stay  the  hut  on  the 
Geiranger  would  seem  to  me  preferable. 

Only  an  hour  is  required  for  the  traversie  of 
this  unique  defile  ;  the  steamer  stops  half  an  hour 
at  Merak,  the  village  at  the  end,  and  the  return 
through  the  fiord  imprints  every  detail  on  the 
memory.      There    are    many  beautiful    excursions 


THE  ROMSDAL.  Ill 

from  Merak  ;  in  fact,  the  guide-books  teem  with 
alluring  invitations  to  by-ways  as  well  as  high- 
ways all  through  the  Scandinavian  peninsula. 

Emerging  from  the  Geiranger,  the  boat  crossed 
to  Hellesylt,  the  village  where  we  intended  to  pass 
the  night.  We  made  our  way  up  a  rough,  stony 
path  to  as  primitive  an  inn  as  can  well  be  seen,  to 
find  it  so  crowded  ("crowd  "  implying  about  two 
dozen  people)  that  we  gladly  returned  to  the 
steamer,  which  the  captain  had  previously  warned 
us  would  be  more  comfortable.  He  received  us 
with  a  friendly  laugh  and  with  Spanish  hospitality  : 
"  I  thought  you  would  come  back,  ladies!  Now 
the  boat  shall  all  be  yours,  to-night — only  give  me 
my  cabin."  We  were  put  in  possession  of  the 
dining-saloon,  with  the  small  ladies'  cabin  for  a 
dressing-room ;  we  had  blankets  and  pillows  ad 
libitum;  and  when  six  o'clock  came  the  next  morn- 
ing were  still  sleeping  undisturbed  by  the  hasty 
toilet,    the   bill,  and  the   rush   to  the  boat    which 


112  .VO/^M'^Ay  NIGHTS. 


preluded  the  breakfast  of  our  fellow-travellers. 
The  weather  was  dull,  and  the  wind  fresh  ;  the 
steamer  again  crowded  with  peasants  coming  and 
going,  and  there  was  no  first-class  deck.  Again 
the  good  captain  came  to  our  aid  and  gave  us  his 
<jwn  cabin,  where  with  wraps  and  rugs  we  had  a 
retrospect  of  the  Nord  fiord,  increased  in  interest 
by  his  traditions  of  the  rocks  and  stories  of  the 
people,  recounted  in  fair  English.  The  mate  was 
equally  entertaining,  and  very  proud  Of  his  three 
visits  to  the  United  States.  "O  yes,  "'he  said  in 
reply  to  some  encouraging  remark,  "I  like  New 
York  ;  I  lived  in  a  fine  street  there — Pearl  Street. 
You  know  Pearl  Street }  And  1  have  been  to 
Chicago,  too  :  1  was  there  when  the  great  fire 
was.  I  want  to  go  back  again.  O  yes,  if  1  live 
r  shall  see  New  York  again  before  I  die."  For 
the  sake  of  our  nationality  he  kej)t  watch  and 
ward  over  our  audience-room,  and  banished  the 
inquisitive  boys  and    girls  who    j)eeped   in   at  the 


THE   ROMSDAL.  I  13 


door  as  if  we  were  the  royal  animals  of  a  menag- 
erie :  and  when  we  left  the  steamer  on  arriving  at 
Aalesund  on  the  western  coast,  our  trifling  gra- 
tuity, accompanied  by  the  gift  of  a  purse  from  the 
city  of  his  admiration,  brought  tears  to  his  eyes. 
Norwegians  usually  receive  good  impressions  of 
our  country  from  their  emigrating  compatriots  ; 
many  of  the  seamen  and  skippers  have  sailed  to 
and  from  our  shores,  and  have  brought  back  a 
slight  knowledge  of  the  language  and  reminis- 
cences of  wonderful  fruits,  grand  buildings,  gala 
spectacles,  and  a  general  gorgeousness,  such  as 
the  palaces  of  Bagdad  off"ered  to  the  dazzled  eyes 
of  Aladdin. 

We  had  several  unemployed  hours  to  spare  at 
Aalesund  before  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  for 
^lolde,  our  next  halting-place,  and  we  improved 
this  interval  by  rambling  about  the  town.  Al- 
though a  small  place  of  only  six  or  seven  thou- 
sand  inhabitants,  it   is  one   of  the   principal   sea- 


114  .VO/^JVAV  NIGHTS. 


ports,  and  renowned  for  its  good  pilots,  hardy 
fishermen,  and  codfishery.  As  Mark  Twain  said 
of  Bermuda,  "  its  pride  and  its  joy,  its  gem  and 
its  jewel,  is  the  Onion,"  so  of  Aalesund  its  gem 
and  its  jewel  is  the  Cod,  whose  mortal  remains 
pervade  the  atmosphere  with  undeniable  convic- 
tion. Italy  and  Spain  are  its  final  destination  as  a 
noun  of  multitude.  When  religious  fast-days  van- 
ish from  that  part  of  the  world  in  the  progress  of 
ages,  Aalesund  will  no  longer  find  these  so  gen- 
erous marts  for  her  codfish.  ^Meanwhile  Spain  re- 
turns a  more  savory  freight  in  excellent  port-wine, 
which  finds  its  way  at  moderate  prices  all  over  Nor- 
way. The  town  lies  partly  on  the  main-land  and 
partly  on  islands,  thus  affording  to  imaginative 
travellers  a  likeness  to  Venice.  Two  or  three 
water-ways  and  bridges  can  never  come  together 
without  the  immediate  exclamation  "Venice  !"  as 
if  prototype  or  semblance  of  the  unique  beauty  of 
that  peerless  city  ever  yet  existed  anywhere  !     Be- 


THE  ROMSDAL.  1  I  5 


hind  the  town  rises  a  huge  cliff  from  which  the 
sunset  shining  on  the  sea,  and  the  fringe  o'i  islands 
off  the  coast,  would  be  the  delight  and  the  despair 
of  an  artist.  The  streets  are  neither  quaint  nor 
old,  but  there  is  one  historical  relic — the  ancient 
castle  of  ''Hrolf  Gangr,"  or  Rollo  the  Walker, 
so  called  because,  on  account  of  his  great  height 
and  size,  no  Norwegian  horse  could  carry  him. 
He  was  the  conqueror  and  founder  of  the  duchy 
of  Normandy,  the  progenitor  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, and  of  the  same  mould  and  spirit  as  that 
race  of  Normans  and  Norsemen  united  who  sub- 
jugated Sicily  and  inwove  the  iron  threads  of 
Scandinavian  energy  into  the  golden  tissue  of 
Arabic  and  Greek  refinement.  The  country 
around  Aalesund  teems  with  traditions  of  the 
Sea-Kings  who  from  this  favorite  point  set  their 
square  sails  and  lofty  prows  in  search  of  far-off 
Pactolian  streams. 

We  started    on    our  voyage    for    Molde  about 


ii6  ^'o/^lVAy  nights. 


eight  in  the  evening,  and  arrived  there  at  two  in 
the  morning,  after  spending  nearly  all  the  interval 
in  chatting  on  the  deck  with  chance  acquaintances. 
These  June  nights-which-are-not-nights  seem  to 
steal  the  pivot  from  the  wheel  of  Time,  and  our 
watches  formed  the  habit  of  incorrigible  lying. 
One  o'clock,  they  say — and  a  pink  and  primrose 
sky  flatly  contradicts  ;  two  o'oclock — a  rosier  gold, 
and  lo,  the  sun  !  No  chronometer  in  the  world 
could  stand  such  I^ouleversement. 

Molde  is  a  clean,  pretty  town  of  two  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  and  is  more  favored  in  cli- 
mate than  most  others  in  Norway,  for  it  stands 
on  the  western  coast,  under  the  influence  of 
the  Gulf  Stream,  and  is  sheltered  from  north 
winds  by  a  range  of  hills.  Flowers  both  wild 
and  cultivated  grow  in  abundance — roses,  anem- 
ones, honeysuckles,  butterfly-orchids,  and  many 
others.  It  boasts  attractive  villas  and  gardens, 
and  charming  walks  up  the  hills,  whence  stretches 


THE   ROMS  DAL.  I  I  7 


an  extensive  panorama  of  the  fiord  with  iis 
many  islands,  and,  beyond,  snow-tipped  moun- 
tains which  recall  the  Bernese  Alps  as  seen  from 
the  Schiiuzli.  The  new  and  excellent  (irand 
Hotel,  with  its  baths,  balconies,  and  admirable 
cuisine,  would  have  tempted  us  to  many  days"  so- 
journ had  not  inexorable  Fate  waved  in  her  hand 
our  tickets,  marked  June  23,  for  the  Capel/a, 
bound  to  the  North  Cape.  No  choice  was  left, 
and  we  embarked  again  at  midnight  on  our  sixth 
steamer. 


CHAPTER   V. 


TROXDHIEM. 


THESE  fiord  steamers  have  a  fashion  of  start- 
ing at  such  times  as  anywhere  else  would 
be  objectionable  ;  but  when  the  days  are  twenty- 
four  hours  long,  one  hour  is  as  good  as  another. 

A  few  hours'  sleep  in  comfortable  cabins  tided 
us  kindly  over  the  somewhat  emotional  open  sea 
which  sweeps  around  the  coast,  not  always  shel- 
tered by  the  breakwater  of  islands.  We  paused 
at  Christiansund  "for  cargo"  as  usual,  but  readily 
restrained  our  curiosity  to  see  it,  except  from  our 
cabin  windows,  as  it  has  no  interest  for  travellers. 
It  is  built  with  singular  irregularity  on  three  isl- 
ands ;  there  is  nothing  outside  but  the  sea  and 
barren   rocks,  and   little  inside  except   the  multi- 


TROXDHJEM.  1 1 9 


tudinous  cod.  Beyond  this  point  the  scenery  is 
rather  picturesque.  We  sat  on  deck  in  view  of 
friendly  islands,  and  soon  entered  the  extensive 
fiord  of  Trondhjem.  En  passanl  it  may  be  said 
that  all  these  fiord  steamers  provide  an  abundance 
of  good  food  and  good  sleeping-cabins — which  lat- 
ter, however,  are  few  in  number  and  ought  to  be 
engaged  at  least  two  or  three  days  in  advance  by 
telegram  or  letter  to  the  main  offices.  There  is  a 
curious  custom  of  asking  for  families  what  they 
call  a  ''  moderation "'  price,  which  means  that  a  man 
and  his  wife,  or  a  brother  and  sister,  pay  for  only 
one  and  a  half  tickets.  This  explains  the  title  of 
a  pleasant  little  book  called  "  One  and  a  Half  in 
Norway. " 

I  have  not  hitherto  trenched  on  the  province  of 
the  guide-books  by  mentioning  prices,  but  it  may 
be  well  to  state  here  that  the  cost  of  travelling  is 
about  five  dollars  per  day,  including  steamer-fares, 
cariole  or  trille,  meals  and  beds.      In  the  three  large 


AORH-AV  NIGHTS. 


cities,  Bergen,  Cliristiania,  and  Trondhjem,  hotel- 
prices  are  much  the  same  as  in  Switzerland  and 
Germany.  Railways  are  few,  and  for  those  who 
have  time  the  post-roads  are  preferable,  especially 
considering  the  facilities  they  constantly  offer  for 
deiours  into  regions  of  grandeur  and  beaut}-  neces- 
sarily shunned  b\-  the  iron  road.  One  hears  of 
many  discomforts  in  what  are  called  the  "slow 
stations" — that  is,  where  tourists  are  few  and  farm- 
ers have  only  two  or  three  horses  and  poor  ac- 
commodations ;  but  to  see  as  well  as  to  be  the 
beautiful.  —  "  il faut  souffrir.  " 

I  am  again  impelled  to  laud  the  friendly,  oblig- 
ing civility  of  the  Norwegians  ;  and  as  to  honesty, 
Diogenes  might  throw  away  his  lamp,  for  his  hon- 
est man  is  the  universal  man,  woman,  and  child. 
Scarcely  any  crime  is  considered  so  disgraceful  as 
dishonesty.  An  Englishwoman  who  had  lived 
twenty-six  years  in  Christiania  said  to  us:  "If  you 
should  fill   this   room  with  gold  coins  and  send  a 


TROXDHJEM. 


121 


Norwegian  into  it  alone,  he  ^vould   not  touch  a 
suigle  piece."     Linen  may  be  left  on  the  grass  all 
inght  to  bleach  ;  trinkets  and  watches  are  safe  on 
bedroom   tables  with   doors   unlocked  ;  and  both 
purses  and  watches  lost   on  the  roads  are  taken  to 
d.e    nearest    h.n.       This  delightful    trait    includes 
honesty  of  speech  and  of  deed,  and  is  the   nearest 
approach   to   the  window  m   the   heart  which    the- 
satirist  of  Olympus   declared  wanting  in   Vulcan's 
primeval  man.      One  remembers  with  indignation 
the    extortions    formerly  practised    upon   some  of 
these  unsophisticated   emigrants  in  the  great   port 
of  New  York  ;  happily  they  are  now  much   better 
protected  :  but  in  a  country  where  peculations  and 
falsehoods  fly  like    thistle-down   through  the  air, 
eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  justice. 

TRONDHJKM, 

the   home    of    the   Thrones,   an    important  tribe 
„f  olden    da)S,    has   always    been    the    historical 


122 


JVO/^fVAV  NIGHTS. 


capital,  and  the  sovereigns  of  the  United  Kingdom 
are  still  crowned  there  in  the  cathedral.  The  ap- 
proach is  picturesque  by  both  land  and  water  ; 
the  town,  numbering  thirty  thousand  inhabitants, 
lies  on  a   peninsula   formed   by  the   river   Nid   on 


In  Trondhjem  Cathedral. 


one  side  and  the  fiord  on  the  other  ;  beyond  are 
distant  hills  and  the  remains  of  a  fort.  The  har- 
bor is  gay  with  ships  of  every  sort,  especially  the 
Joegts,  or  copies  of  the  Viking  craft,  with  the  same 
high  prows  and  almost  unaltered  lines  of  their 
prototypes  ;   and  the  quays  are  lined  with  dark-red 


TROXDHJF.M.  i  2T, 


warehouses  which  extend  into  the  water  on  piles, 
as  in  Holland. 

We  had  secured  good  rooms  in  the  Britannia 
Hotel,  where  baths  and  beds  were  very  welcome 
after  three  successive  nights  in  steamers,  as  was 
also  the  well-prepared  and  well-served  dinner 
in  a  pretty  dining-room  of  carved  wood  from 
floor  to  rafters.  The  scene  was  animated  by  forty 
or  fifty  polyglot  guests,  among  whom  were  half 
a  dozen  of  our  compatriots,  and  an  elderly  Kng- 
lishman  whose  volcanic  cynicisms  had  amused 
us  all  the  morning  on  the  steamer.  \\'e  went  out 
after  dinner  for  a  survey  of  the  city.  As  in  all 
the  other  towns,  the  architecture  is  strikingly  sim- 
ple, the  houses  being  generally  of  wood  and  rarely 
more  than  two  stories  high  ;  the  streets  ver}'  broad 
and  regular,  and  the  churches  without  spires. 
Except  on  the  quays  and  the  market-place,  there 
is  an  orderly  stillness  ;  and  the  general  aspect  of 
the  yellowish-gray  houses  would   be  dull  but  for 


124  xo/^u'.-i]'  xiaifTS. 


the  pots  of  ga}'  flowers  that  brighten  every   win- 
dow. 

I  confess  to  the  full  amount  of  feminine  inter- 
est in  the  shops  of  arctic  furs  and  antique  silver. 
There  is  really  but  one  for  furs,  and  that  is 
Braun's,  where  we  expected  to  find  them  better  and 
less  expensive  than  anywhere  else,  unless  in  Rus- 
sia. But  seal-skins  cost  very  little  less  than  in 
England,  and  silver-fox  and  sables  were  so  dear 
that  we  reserved  our  purchases  for  their  native 
Country.  We  bought,  however,  unusually  dark 
and  beautiful  Russian  squirrel-robes  at  half  the 
])rice  they  cost  elsewhere.  The  antique  silver  gob- 
lets were  very  unique  and  finely  engraved,  and  one 
})roved  irresistible.  Among  the  spoons,  not  more 
than  half  a  dozen  tempted  to  purchase  ;  they  cost 
from  four  to  sixteen  dollars — sixteen  to  seventy- 
five  "kroner."  Those  worth  buying  are  now  very 
scarce,  most  of  them  having  taken  Horace  Gree- 
ley's advice  and  "gone   West."'     IModern   filigree 


TROXDHJEM. 


wDrk  is  well  done  and  \'ery  pretty  ;  the  art  of  mak- 
ing it  was  learned  from  two  (Genoese  who  stra}ed 
hither  two  hundred  years  ago.  It  is,  however, 
scarcely  so  line  as  the  Italian. 

There  is  no  prominent  street  of  shops  ;  they 
modestly  occupy  the  first  floor  of  tlwellings,  and 
are  small  and  un})retending.  There  are  several 
attractive  drives  in  the  neighborhood  of  Trond- 
hjem,  one  or  two  soi-disant  gardens  in  the  cit\',  and 
a  general  air  of  comfort  and  content  among  the 
])eople.  Prosperit^•  is  indicated  by  the  ship-build- 
ing yards,  paper-mills,  and  other  manufactories, 
besides  the  exports  of  timber,  fish,  and  copper 
from  the  mines  of  Roras,  which  have  been  worked 
two  hundred  and  fift}'  years ;  and,  singularh- 
enough,  cargoes  of  paving-stones  have  lately  been 
sent  to  the  city  of  New  York  ! 

The  pride  of  Trondhjem  and  of  all  Norway  is 
the  cathedral,  which  was  begun  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury and  was  a  hundred  years  in  process  of  build- 


Apse  of  St.  Olaf's  Cathedral. 


TRONDHJEM.  127 


ing — a  really  beautiful  specimen  of  the  massive 
Norman  and  early  English  architecture,  and,  in 
spite  of  certain  later  disfigurements,  considered 
the  finest  church  in  the  three  Scandinavian  coun- 
tries. This  ancient  pile  stands  a  little  apart,  in  a 
well-kept  church-yard,  among  such  shrubs  and 
flowers  as  the  climate  affords.  It  is  built  of  a 
bluish  slate  which  contrasts  well  with  white  mar- 
ble columns  in  the  interior ;  near  the  high  altar 
stands  a  replica  of  Thorwaldsen's  majestic  Christ, 
presented  by  the  sculptor,  the  efiect  of  which  is 
very  noble  as  seen  from  the  entrance-door.  The 
favorite  Saint  Olaf  was  buried  here  ;  his  shrine  be- 
came a  jNIecca  of  the  Catholic  world,  who  enriched 
it  with  magnificent  gifts,  supplanted  the  temples 
of  Odin  with  churches  and  monasteries,  and 
brought  great  prosperity  to  Trondhjem,  until  the 
crusaders  of  the  Reformation,  in  their  turn,  swept 
away  the  monasteries,  sacked  the  shrine,  and 
packed  its  gold  and  jewels  in  a  ship  which  after- 


128  NOR IV AY  NIGHTS. 


wards  foundered  at  sea.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  many  disasters  ;  several  conflagrations  and  the 
pestilence  of  the  ' "  Black  Death"  nearly  annihi- 
lated the  unhappy  town  until,  about  a  hundred 
years  ago,  it  struggled  into  life  again,  and  now 
holds  its  own  right  valiantly,  encouraged  also  by 
the  railways  to  Christiania  and  to  Stockholm. 

We  were  a  jubilant  party  at  Trondhjem,  proud 
of  our  punctuality  and  cmv  strict  adherence  to  our 
chart  of  travel  ;  ha})py  that  no  personal  accident 
or  failure  of  any  kind  had  barred  our  way.  As 
the  fiord  steamers  ply  only  on  certain  days,  which 
are  frequently  changed,  the  delay  of  a  single  day 
might  have  entailed  the  loss  tjf  our  rooms  on  the 
Capella.  But  here  we  were,  within  twenty-four 
hours'  sail  of  that  Arctic  Ocean  which  we  had  so 
often  traversed  in  fancy,  and,  turning  away  from 
the  generous  but  unsufificing  Past,  we  lifted  eager 
eyes  towards  that  anomalous  meridian  which 
marks  the  fusion  of  day  with  immediate  day  again. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


THE    ARCTIC    OCEAN. 


THE  first  tourist  steamer  of  the  season  had 
sailed  June  21st  ;  the  Capella,  of  three  days 
later,  considered  even  better,  lay  in  the  harbor 
awaiting  its  freight  of  forty  passengers.  It  had 
good  cabins,  a  good  cuisine,  and  excellent  officers. 
Captain  Iveson,  a  handsome,  comfortable-looking 
man,  won  our  hearts  by  his  first  act  of  courtesy. 
The  only  two  cabins  which  we  were  able  to  secure 
two  weeks  previously  proved  uncomfortably  small 
for  a  party  of  three,  and  with  dismay  in  our  hearts 
we  applied  to  him  for  another.  One  large  cabin 
remained  disengaged,  Init  that  one,  he  said,  might 
have    been  secured   at    Bergen  ;  he  could  not  tell 


130  A'O/^irAV  NIGHTS. 

until  the  passenger-list  should  arrive  that  day. 
Here  was  the  first  contretemps  of  our  tour,  and 
we  were  apprehensive  of  very  crowded  quarters 
during  our  eight  days'  voyage. 

"Give  yourselves  no  anxiety,  ladies,"  said  this 
most  gracious  of  ship-masters;  "  if  there  is  no 
other  cabin,  I  will  give  you  mine. " 

We  assured  him  we  would  gladly  indemnify 
him  for  the  sacrifice, — his  cabin  was  the  largest 
and  best  on  the  steamer, — but  he  would  not  listen 
to  this  proposal,  and  said  he  had  given  it  away 
many  a  time.  Happily  the  necessity  was  avoided, 
as  no  new  passengers  appeared  at  the  last  mo- 
ment. I  will  say  en  passant  that  it  is  best  to 
secure  tickets  two  or  three  weeks,  at  least,  in  ad- 
vance from  the  main  office  at  Bergen  ;  not  know- 
ing this,  we  had  bought  ours  at  Christiania  when 
all  the  best  cabins  assigned  to  that  office  had 
already  been  disposed  of.  The  prices  are  from 
fourteen    to    fifteen    pounds    sterling,    everything 


THE  ARCTIC  OCBA.V.  131 

included.     On   all  but  the  tourist  steamers  meals 

are  not  included. 

We  went  on  board  at  midnight,  in  the  pink  and 
purple  hour  between  two  days.  A  crowd  stood 
on  shore  to  watch  the  departure.  "  Farvels"  rang 
through  the  air,  handkerchiefs  waved,  the  anchor 
was  raised,  and  with  a  resolute  purpose  in  her 
heart  our  Capella  started  for  the  land  of  the  Mid- 
night Sun. 

We  watched  the  little  city  with  its  hills  receding 
and  the  islands  approaching ;  we  reviewed  our 
fellow-passengers  as  they  walked  the  deck  in  the 
self-gratulation  of  a  fresh  departure,  and  we  cast 
our  social  horoscope  with  the  usual  quick,  furtive 
observation  of  prospective  comrades  on  a  sea-voy- 
age. Our  forty  passengers  made  a  desirable  num- 
l)er  for  comfort  on  the  Capella,  though  it  has  car- 
ried a  hundred  and  twenty.  There  were  about  a 
dozen  English  and  Americans  ;  the  remainder  were 
Danes.     Swedes,     Germans,     Russians,    and    one 


132  JVO/?li'Ay  NIGHTS. 


elderly  Italian,  whose  only  v(»cabulary  was  as  use- 
less as  Patagonian  in  Norway,  but  who  managed 
with  his  unfailing  good-humor  and  the  tegis  of 
Cook's  tickets  to  be  sent  forward  like  an  express 
parcel  well  labelled.  At  the  table  we  were  seated 
next  the  captain,  and  our  ears  had  the  inestimable 
privilege  of  hearing  four  unknown  languages  at 
the  same  time  from  our  opposite  neighbors — a 
Russian  general,  courtly  and  decisive  :  a  member 
of  the  Swedish  i)arliament,  ponderous  and  solemn  ; 
a  professor  from  Upsala  University,  with  flowing 
locks  and  a  fair,  sprightly  wife  ;  and,  as  the  fourth 
in  this  bewildering  fugue,  a  Dane,  whose  incessant 
chatter  never  ceased  during  the  entire  voyage. 

Our  first  day  from  Trondhjem  presented  no  very 
striking  scenery.  We  were  first  in  the  Trondhjem 
fiord,  and  afterwards  in  a  network  of  islands,  the 
cliffs  and  rocks  of  which  are  not  lofty,  and  have 
no  salient  features  except  the  bare  and  broken 
contortions   produced    by  the    action  of    ice  and 


THE  ARCTIC   OCR  AX.  133 


snow.  Sometimes  we  pass  into  what  appears  a 
large  lake,  with  innumerable  little  bays  and  arm- 
lets running  into  the  fissures  of  the  mountains  ; 
again  the  channel  narrows  and  dark  ledges  of 
snow-tipped  rock  stretch  across  it.  Even  in  July 
fogs  and  sleet  often  envelop  this  coast  with 
dreary  mantle  ;  but  now  the  delightful  air,  the 
dreamy  perspectives,  and  fair  promise  of  both  ba- 
rometer and  thermometer  left  nothing  to  desire. 
A  few  clouds  hovered  around,  which  awakened  a 
little  anxiety  lest  they  should  veil  our  first  view  of 
the  midnight  sun  :  but  as  the  day  wore  on  they 
kindly  drifted  alcove  the  horizon. 

During  the  entire  voyage  the  weather  was  so 
calm  that  there  was  no  question  of  discussion  be- 
tween digestion  and  dinner  with  even  the  most 
sensitive  voyageur,  and  ever}-  day  we  went  on 
shore  to  see  some  point  of  interest.  The  busi- 
ness of  the  ship  was  to  entertain  the  passengers  ; 
and  as  we  fell    in   with    the    unique    amusements 


134  .VO/^JVAV  NIGHTS. 

thus  presented,  and  also  formed  friendly  alliances 
with  our  neighbors,  the  excursion  soon  took  on 
the  semblance  of  a  private  yachting-party. 

We  landed  the  first  day  on  an  island  named 
Torgnet,  which  is  surmounted  by  a  lofty,  precipi- 
tous rock  called  Torghsetten,  from  its  fancied  like- 
ness to  a  colossal  hat  or  hood.  The  rock  is  about  a 
thousand  feet  high,  and  perforated  in  the  centre  by 
a  natural  tunnel  or  cavern  through  which  appears, 
as  a  picture  in  a  gigantic  frame,  the  sky  and  a 
group  of  islands  on  the  other  side.  This  remark- 
able orifice  is  five  hundred  feet  up  the  rock,  and 
one  of  the  amusements  of  the  voyage  is  to  scram- 
ble up  and  look  through  it.  After  a  few  hundred 
yards  over  a  flower-sprent,  marshy  meadow,  the 
ascent  is  rough  and  steep,  up  and  over  great  stones 
and  debris,  and  through  pools  of  water.  At  the 
tiX^e  of  the  cavern  we  came  upon  a  group  of  fresh- 
cheeked  peasant-girls  in  white  bodices  and  gay 
handkerchiefs,  offering  ])hotographs  and  bowls  of 


THE  ARCTIC  OCEAN.  1 35 

milk.  I  was  very  grateful  in  that  toilsome  path 
for  the  aid  of  the  first  ofiicer,  a  Scandinavian 
Adonis  with  beautiful,  clear  coloring,  and  kindly 
ways,  always  ready  to  act  the  part  of  preux  cheva- 
lier to  ladies  young  and  old. 

Of  course  a  tragic  legend  is  attached  to  this 
striking  freak  of  nature,  the  Torghaetten,  for 
through  all  this  stern  and  rugged  coast  superstition 
naturally  takes  that  form.  The  story  here  is 
much  like  that  of  Daphne  pursued  by  Apollo, 
with  a  Nemesis  thrown  in,  and  the  persons  of 
the  drama  stand  in  perpetual  stone. 

After  resuming  our  voyage,  the  mountains  on 
either  side  soon  become  very  imposing,  especially 
a  range  of  seven  weird  peaks  three  thousand  feet 
high,  called  the  Seven  Sisters,  which,  according  to 
tradidons  of  the  Finns,  the  first  inhabitants  of 
Norway,  are  the  homes  of  spirits  hostile  to  all 
their  successors.  Farther  on  is  a  wonderful 
mountain     called     the     Hestemand   (Horseman), 


136  .yORM'AV  XIGHTS. 


M'hich  by  aid  of  imagination  becomes  a  flying 
rider  with  wide-extended  mantle,  crags  and  cliffs 
representing  the  head  of  his  steed  and  his  own 
hand.  Next  appears  on  our  fast-changing  pano- 
rama the  vast  glacier  of  the  Svartis,  hundreds 
of  square  miles  in  area,  which  covers  a  plateau 
four  thousand  feet  high  and  sends  several  of  its 
jagged  spurs  quite  down  to  the  sea. 

Soon  after  the  captain  summons  us  with  the 
electric  words,  ' '  Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  we 
are  entering  the  Arctic  Circle  ;"  and,  executing  a 
gay  little  pas-seid  on  the  centre  of  the  deck,  he 
stretches  a  rope  firmly  across  to  represent  the  line 
that  divides  us  from  the  zone  we  leave  behind. 
"You  must  be  on  duty  till  two  o'clock, "he  adds  ; 
"no  one  is  allowed  to  go  to  bed:  there  is  too 
much  to  see  ;  and  coffee  will  be  served  on  deck  at 
twelve."  For  the  first  time  we  were  far  enough 
northward  to  see  the  sun  at  that  mystic  hour.  All 
the  day  we  had  anxiously  watched  barometer  and 


THE  ARCTIC   OCEAX.  137 


clouds.     Ill  truth  they  threatened  disappointment, 

until  about  half-past  eleven  at  night — night  was 
Day,  for  we  passed  from  light  to  Light — and  then 
we  beheld  a  marvel  of  a  sunset. 

Over  the  vast  dome,  almost  to  the  zenith,  the 
gray  cloud-masses  floated  away  in  long  fleecy 
scrolls  of  crimson  and  orange,  in  feathery  fila- 
ments of  transparent  radiance,  in  downy  flecks  of 
deep  purj)le  edged  with  gold.  Points  and  peaks 
both  of  mountains  and  clouds,  in  infinite  irregu- 
larities, ' '  with  sunfire  garlanded, "  sentinelled  the 
sea,  and  stretched  far  northward  till  lost  in  translu- 
cent mist.  Sea-birds  disported  themselves  on  the 
flashing  waves,  their  sombre  feathers  transmuted 
to  tropical  iridescence.  The  sun  slowly  descended 
to  the  edge  of  the  horizon  ; — and  then,  with 
one  kiss  on  the  radiant  water,  rose  with  elastic  re- 
bound I  The  dying  and  the  new-born  day  clasp 
hands  in  mutual  embrace  as  they  pass  through  the 
duplicate  golden  portal  ;  every  ripple  is  a  jewelled 


138  .\o/^lrAV  xJGHrs. 


witness,  every  quiver  of  air  an  echo,  of  the  celestial 
drama. 

The  beauty  and  the  marvel  of  the  scene  brought 
silence  upon  all  our  little  company ;  each  one 
seemed  afraid  to  speak  lest  he  should  break 
the  spell,  until,  by  imperceptible  gradations  of 
form  and  hue,  the  clouds  were  again  lost  in  full 
blaze  of  light. 

Then  we  were  summoned  to  our  ca/e  au  lait,  a 
little  weary  of  the  kaleidoscopic  views  of  the  long 
day,  but  reluctant  even  then  to  lose  any  hours  in 
sleep.  In  truth  we  lost  very  few,  for  the  steamers 
arrange  so  as  not  to  pass  the  salient  points  during 
sleeping-hours — that  is,  from,  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning  until  seven  or  eight.  Some  of  the  pas- 
sengers never  lost  more  than  four  or  five  hours  ; 
others  remained  on  deck,  wrapped  in  rugs  and 
ulsters,  dreamily  gazing  through  the  filmy  smoke 
of  their  cigars  at  the  ever-shifting  peaks  and  pro- 
montories, glaciers  and  waterfalls,  hamlets,  fishing- 


THE  ARCTIC   OCEAX.  1 39 

boats  and  ships,  blue  in  shadow,  but  ghstening  in 
the  pecuHar  mellow  light  of  that  northern  sea. 
Sometimes  they  would  waken  from  a  half-con- 
scious nap  to  see  close  upon  the  Capellas  bows  a 
huge  Viking  ship,  a  ghost  of  ten  centuries  ago 
returned  to  look  for  its  comrades — not,  however, 
bristling  with  battle-axe  and  shields,  but  freighted 
with  freshly-cut  timber  and  highly  realistic  cod  and 
herring.  Murray  says  of  these  Jcegts  :  "So  pre- 
judiced are  the  people  who  build  and  navigate 
them  that  they  will  not  make  the  slightest  altera- 
tion in  their  build  or  rig  ;  they  will  not  even  avail 
themselves  of  the  use  of  the  windlass,  so  that  the 
huge  square  sail  requires  the  same  power  to  haul 
it  to  the  mast-head  that  it  did  twelve  hundred 
years  since  ;  and  for  the  same  reason  the  anchor 
has  to  be  supplied  with  a  special  tripping  to  cant 
it  before  it  can  be  lifted.  Many  are  now  carvel- 
built,  but  until  recently  they  were  all  clinker-built, 
with  great  breadth  of  beam  and  small  draught  of 


I40  .VO/^WAV  NIGHTS. 


water,  enabling  them  to  sail  very  fast  before  the 
wind,  but  in  beating  they  are  apt  to  fall  to  lee- 
ward. "' 

The  first  coaling-point  touched  by  the  steamer 
was  Bodoe,  a  village  of  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants, 
endowed  with  a  telegraph-station,  but  not  sufii- 
ciendy  interesting  to  tempt  us  to  go  on  shore ; 
though  if  one  had  time  and  inclination,  the  excur- 
sions from  these  lead  into  the  very  heart  of  all 
that  is  most  wild  and  stern  in  Norway,  especially 
among  the  Lofoden  islands,  which  we  passetl 
very  soon  after  Bodoe.  They  form  a  remarkable 
maze  of  red  granite  cliff's,  bays,  and  narrow  straits, 
interspersed  with  thousands  of  rocky  islands, 
forming  a  chain  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles 
long.  Some  of  them  have  the  appearance  of  vol- 
canic craters,  and  are  so  sharply  indented  that  they 
are  compared  to  the  jaw  of  a  great  shark,  with 
its  projecting  teeth.  Snow-peaks  and  glaciers  lie 
among  them,    and  a  touch  of  life  is  given  by  fish- 


THE  ARCTIC   OCEAN.  I4I 

ermen"s  huts  and  flocks  of  sea-birds.  Among 
these  straits  are  many  dangerous  currents,  espe- 
cially the  [Maelstrom,  which  formerly  we  were 
'.aught  was  a  horrible  whirlpool  sure  to  en- 
gulf every  object  that  comes  near  it.  Though 
this  is  now  pronounced  a  fable,  the  fact  remains 
that  when  the  wind  blows  from  the  northwest  and 
meets  the  returning  tide  in  the  strait,  the  whole 
area  of  the  Maelstrom  becomes  so  turbulent  that 
no  ship  could  live  in  it  for  a  moment,  although 
outside  the  sea  may  be  as  still  as  glass.  To  add  to 
the  danger,  the  depth  of  the  bottom  very  suddenly 
decreases  and  the  whole  weight  of  water  from  the 
North  Sea  is  suddenly  compressed  between  the 
two  cliffs  that  form  the  strait ;  a  ship  must  there- 
fore inevitably  strike  on  sunken  rocks  or  founder 
in  the  fury  of  the  waves.  There  is  another  very 
narrow  inlet  near  the  Maelstrom  into  which  un- 
wary whales  occasionally  stray,  and  finding  it 
impossible    to    turn    their    huge    bodies,   they   are 


142  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 


grounded  with  the  falHng  tide,  and  sometimes 
struggle  with  their  fate  several  days  before  dying 
in  this  natural  trap,  while  the  coast  resounds  with 
their  bellowings  and  struggles.  A  large  fortune  is 
not  often  so  vehemently  thrust  upon  a  man  as  it 
was  in  the  case  of  a  farmer  who  owned  the  land 
adjacent  to  this  strait  and  became  in  a  few  years 
legatee  of  about  twenty  of  these  valuable  cetaceans, 
whereupon  he  was  dubbed  with  the  title  of  King 
of  the  Lofoden  Islands. 

We  did  not  steer  within  sight  of  these  fatal  cur- 
rents, and  our  best  view  of  the  islands  was  on 
our  return  voyage,  when  we  ran  close  to  their 
base.  The  gigantic  rocks  rising  almost  perpen- 
dicularly from  the  sea  are  gnarled,  twisted,  and 
rent  in  every  imaginable  form,  and  the  snow  on 
their  tops  contrasts  vividly  with  a  remarkable 
green  and  yellow  moss  that  grows  in  large  patches 
upon  them,  and  looks  at  a  distance  like  a  lumi- 
nous field  of  opal  and  gold.      The  waters  here,  as 


THE  ARCTIC   OCEAN.  143 


on  the  entire  coast,  may  be  called  the  life-blood  of 
Norway ;  from  January  to  April  about  twenty 
thousand  men  are  engaged  in  the  Lofoden  fishing 
for  cod.  Thev  are  a  brave  and  temperate  race, 
who  suffer  great  hardships  in  the  winter,  es[)e- 
cially  from  the  northwesterly  gales,  which  often 
drive  their  boats  into  open  seas,  where  they  in- 
evitably capsize.  But  the  climate  is  on  the  whole 
so  tempered  by  the  Gulf  Stream  that  even  this 
})art  of  Norway  is  pleasantly  habitable,  while 
Greenland,  in  the  same  latitude  (about  67°),  is  a 
desert  of  ice.  If  this  beneficent  river  should  take 
a  new  departure,  the  fish  would  emigrate, — and 
then  so  must  the  people,  or  starve. 

The  once  busy  town  of  Tromsoe,  where  we 
landed  the  second  morning  after  leaving  Trond- 
hjem,  has  fallen  off  seriously  within  a  few  years 
on  account  of  a  freak  on  the  part  of  the  fish, 
which  for  reasons  unknown  have  nearly  deserted 
that  locality.       We  went  on    shore  at    Tromsoe, 


144  NO/^H^'.^'i'  NIGHTS. 


which  is  the  principal  settlement  within  the  Arctic 
Circle,  built  on  a  green,  well-wooded  island,  and 
enjoying  a  milder  climate  than  most  of  the  coast. 
Nothing  could  be  more  severely  simple  than  the 
"Cathedral"  (one  of  the  rarely-seen  Catholic 
churches  of  Norway),  the  bank,  the  school- 
houses,  and  the  red-roofed  dwellings.  We  went 
into  several  shops  of  furs  of  various  sorts,  in  rugs, 
overcoats,  and  ladies'  cloaks,  insupportably  heavy  ; 
also  white  fur  shoes  trimmed  with  red  cloth  made 
b}'  the  Lapps.  Several  of  these  queer  little  nom- 
ads were  bargaining  for  exchange  of  products, 
and  regarded  us  with  more  good-humor  than  curi- 
osity, for  they  are  accustomed  to  the  sight  of  sum- 
mer visitors.  We  strayed  into  a  small  museum 
and  examined  a  natural-history  department  of 
fishes  and  animals  peculiar  to  that  region,  but 
all  of  which  we  had  seen  in  other  collections. 
Another  room  was  devoted  to  objects  used  b}'  the 
Laplanders — weapons,    ornaments,    clothing,    etc., 


THE  ARCTIC   OCEAN.  145 


rather  barbaric,  but  not  lacking  picturesqueness. 
In  a  small  collection  of  coins  we  were  surprised 
to  see  a  ten-cent  bit  of  United  States  paper  cur- 
rency, a  "One  Dollar"  note,  and  two  Confederate 
notes  of  soi-disant  high  value. 

The  birch  trees  of  Tromsoe  are  rather  fine  for 
that  latitude;  wild-flowers,  such  as  pale  violets, 
heather,  and  buttercups,  make  a  pathetic  eff"ort  to 
represent  summer,  and  pots  of  geraniums  appear 
in  ever}-  window.  Fruits  and  vegetables  of 
course  refuse  to  grow.  The  first  officer  told  us 
that  he  had  spent  a  winter  there,  and  although 
they  could  dispense  with  lamps  only  five  or  six 
hours  of  the  twenty-four,  the  nights  were  en- 
livened by  dances,  music,  and  theatricals,  and  al- 
together it  was  social  and  agreeable.  The  Aurora 
Borealis  is  a  most  kindly  alleviation  of  those  in- 
terminable months,  and  must  be  almost  as  well 
worth  seeing  as  the  Midnight  Sun.  Two  oil- 
paintings  of  it   hung  outside   of    a   shop-window 


146  A'0/^lVAy  XIGHTS. 

which  we  passed,  and  though  they  represented  an 
apparently  supernatural  gorgeousness  of  color, 
our  friend  assured  us  they  did  not  exaggerate. 

This  part  of  Norway  is  called  Finmark,  and 
from  here  to  the  North  Coast  of  Scandinavia  and 
Russia  roam  those  dwellers  in  tents  called  Finns 
and  Lapps.  Once  masters  of  the  whole  peninsu- 
la, they  have  been  gradually  driven  to  the  bleak 
and  desolate  mountains,  where  they  exist  with 
their  reindeer  in  a  state  of  perennial  content- 
ment— a  frame  of  niind  either  appertinent  to 
nomads  who  have  become  an  integral  part  of 
Nature  itself,  or  attained  after  a  severe  struggle 
against  the  "divine  despair"  of  high  civilization. 
Some  of  the  Norwegian  Lapps  come  down  to  the 
valleys  near  Tromsoe  in  the  summer  season  for  the 
pasturage  and  fishing,  and  travellers  usually  visit 
their  encampment. 

The  steamer  sent  us  in  boats  to  the  shore,  where 
horses  were  waiting  for   those   who   preferred   the 


THE  ARCTIC   OCEAN.  1 47 


saddle  to  the  walk  of  two  miles  in  a  charming 
birch-forest,  through  which  ran  a  bustling  rivulet. 
The  air  was  perfect,  the  sky  true  blue,  and  the 
brief  change  from  deck  to  shore  very  agreeable. 
As  we  approached  the  encampment  which  lay  at 
the  foot  of  green  mountains,  we  saw  a  few  hun- 
dred reindeer  inclosed  within  a  rude  picket  of 
tree-branches,  several  circular  huts,  and  forty  or 
fifty  uncouth-looking  men,  women,  and  children, 
nearly  all  with  pipes  in  their  mouths.  Nature  has 
not  been  gracious  to  this  tribe  :  she  has  stunted 
tiieir  stature  to  four  and  five  feet,  and  has  given 
them  high  cheek-bones,  flat  noses,  thick,  wide 
mouths,  and  swarthy  skins,  inharmonious  with 
small  blue  eyes,  to  which  they  add  long,  unkempt 
brown  hair.  Even  the  babies  looked  old  and 
smoke-dried,  and  the  old  people  as  shrivelled  as 
mummies.  But  the  good-humor  of  their  faces 
goes  a  long  way  towards  atonement.  When  we 
declined  to  buv  their  fur  shoes  and  reindeer-horn 


Laplander. 


THE  ARCTIC  OCEAX.  1 49 

spoons,  they  smiled  as  imperturbably  as  a  Parisian 
shop-keeper.  However,  we  bestowed  small  coins, 
and  regretted,  as  usual,  that  we  had  no  gay  bar- 
baric trifles  to  give  them,  or  the  more  useful  boon 
of  coarse  needles  for  the  women.  The  men 
wore  loose  tunics  of  reindeer-skin,  often  sadly  des- 
titute of  hair  and  sometimes  made  on  the  reverse 
side,  fastened  round  the  waist  with  belts,  to  which 
knives  and  tobacco-pouches  were  attached ; 
peaked  boots  or  shoes  of  reindeer-skin,  the  fur 
outwards  and  trimmed,  as  were  their  leggings,  with 
bright  red  or  blue  woollen  cloth  ;  pointed  caps  of 
red  or  blue  wool  surmounted  their  elfin  locks. 
The  women  were  clad  in  short,  bright-colored 
woollen  skirts,  to  which  smoke  and  dirt  had  added 
a  tint  or  two,  and  reindeer  jackets  so  adjusted  as 
to  show  rather  lavishl}-  the  scraggy  brown  throat 
decked  with  silver  ornaments.  True  to  the  undy- 
ing instinct  of  the  sex,  they  regarded  our  dress 
with  curiosity,  and  probably  were  disappointed  in 


50  .VOJ^lFAV  NIGHTS. 


the  quiet  hues  ;  but  the  gift  to  one  young  woman 
of  a  red-satin  bow  taken  from  a  parasol  was  rap- 
turously received  and  thrust 
for  safe-keeping  into  her 
bosom,  as  a  treasure  not  to 
be  lightly  displayed.  The 
hands  of  both  men  and 
Lapp  Wedding-ring.  ^vomen  would  puzzle  Des- 
barolles ;  they  are  remarkably  small  and  well- 
shaped,  with  almost  ' '  artistic"  fingers. 

We  received  ready  admission  into  one  of  their 
Gammer,  or  huts,  through  an  inconveniently  low 
entrance,  which  was  closed  with  a  reindeer-skin. 
It  was  not  more  than  eight  feet  in  diameter,  built 
of  birch-bark  supported  on  saplings,  and  filled 
in  with  earth  ;  the  walls  inside  hung  with  deer- 
skins, wooden  bowls,  cheese,  dried  meat,  guns  ; 
and  in  one  corner  was  a  chest,  probably  for 
holiday  clothing.  In  the  centre  was  a  fire,  and  a 
kettle  hung  over  the  embers  ;   a  very  young  Lapp, 


THE  ARCTIC   OCEAX.  151 


hideous  as  a  monkey,  lay  choking  in  the  smoke, 
and  several  other  scions  of  the  family  toddled  al- 
most mXo^Q  pot  au  feu,  while  at  least  three  women 
endeavored  to  do  the  honors  of  the  mansion. 

The  limitations  of  such  a  life  are  inconceivable, 
when  we  learn  that  these  people  know  how  \^^ 
read  and  write  after  a  fashion,  and  say  their  pra}- 
ers  devoutly  in  Lutheran  churches  when  the  op- 
portunity offers.  There  are  itinerant  schoolmas- 
ters who  instruct  them  a  few  weeks  in  the  sum- 
mer, employed  by  the  government  at  the  exorbi- 
tant rate  of  twenty-five  dollars  the  season,  the 
colony  of  Lapps  contributing  five  dollars  more  ; 
and  we  noticed  at  Hammerfest  on  Sunday  sev- 
eral Lapps  in  the  little  church  we  visited.  They 
were  gross  idolaters,  however,  until  in  1600  a.  n. 
Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  and  Norway  broke  up 
their  worship  with  great  severity.  The  most  ve- 
hement and  fanatical  ])reachers  are  the  must  })Op- 
ular  with  them — and  there  are  manv  such  in  Xor- 


152  XORIVAV  yiGHTS. 


way.  Nevertheless  the  dust  of  ancient  supersti- 
tions still  clings  to  their  feeble  brains  :  they  be- 
lieve in  witchcraft  and  in  the  Troller,  or  evil  spirits 
of  the  woods,  and  maintain  the  legendary  supe- 
riority of  the  polar  bear  as  the  most  gifted  of 
created  beings,  capable  of  hearing  and  resenting 
all  disrespectful  remarks  that  may  be  made  about 
him.  They  are  quite  willing  to  destroy  him,  but 
never  when  he  is  asleep  —  only  with  honorable 
warning  and  an  honorable  weapon,  such  as  a 
lance — never  a  gun.  It  is  recorded  that  formerly 
they  asked  his  pardon  with  tears  before  taking  his 
life,  like  the  executioner  of  INIary  Queen  of  Scots  ; 
but  this  ceremony  is  now  omitted. 

The  reindeer  which  were  skilfully  lassoed  and 
driven  for  our  benefit  are  picturesque  animals, 
with  their  })ale,  gray  skins  and  great  branching  ant- 
lers ;  the  least  exacting  of  all  the  servitors  of  man, 
as  they  require  no  sustenance  but  the  mountain 
moss,  which   they  scent  even  several   feet  beneath 


Lapp  Woman  and  Baby. 


154  XORU'AV  NIGHTS. 

the  snow.  As  the  herd  ran  past,  a  pecuHar  crackle 
of  their  hoofs — or,  as  others  say,  of  the  knee-joint 
• — was  very  noticeable,  like  a  quick  succession  of 
electric  snaps. 

We  were  told  that  the  family  relations  of  the 
Lapps  are  very  kindly,  and  that  they  are  a  happy, 
contented  race,  though  inferior  to  their  neighbors, 
the  Finns,  in  mind  and  appearance.  I  noticed 
that  one  ot  them  who  was  fishing  near  our 
steamer  was  not  allowed  to  come  on  board  to  re- 
ceive a  proffered  gratuity  from  a  passenger.  It 
was  handed  him  from  the  gangway,  no  doubt 
from  aversion  to  closer  contact.  So  much  for  our 
narrow  prejudice  in  favor  of  soap  and  water  !  On 
the  whole,  our  visit  to  the  Lapps  was  one  of  the 
most  interesting  incidents  of  the  voyage,  and  we 
came  awav  with  considerable  respect  for  a  people 
who,  imprisoned  two  thirds  of  the  year  in  dark- 
ness and  storm,  and  browbeaten  by  desolate 
mountains,  preserve  the  graces  of  contentment  and 
good-nature. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


HAMMERFEST. 


TT  would  be  wearisome  to  my  readers  to  trace 
-'■  too  accurately  our  course  around  the  count- 
less islands,  fiords,  promontories,  and  cliffs  ;  nor 
would  I  trench  on  the  provinces  of  the  guide- 
hooks.  Xow  on  the  right,  now  on  the  left,  the 
rapid  variety  appealed  to  our  attention,  and  gave  no 
time  for  reading  or  for  the  diversions  of  an  ordi- 
nary sea-voyage.  Sleep  seemed  almost  culpable 
during  that  single  day  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
hours,  from  the  midnight  of  our  leaving  Trond- 
hjem  to  the  noon  of  our  return  ;  watches  were  the 
relics  of  a  past  and  fettered  existence,  "Good- 
night" an  irony.  We  had  no  nights  in  Norway  ; 
the  boldest  pretension  to  the  name  was  a  gloam- 


[56  XO/?M^'Ay  XIGHTS. 


ing  quickly  followed  by  sunrise.  We  never 
lighted  a  candle,  and  moon  and  stars  were  invis- 
ible and  superfluous.  Philosophers  say  we  can 
do  very  well  without  essentials  :  "  Ze  luxe  c  est  la 
chose  bien  nkessaire. "  ^^'e  did  \^x\  well  without 
moon  and  stars,  and  the  absence  of  darkness  was 
perpetual  pleasure.  An  astronomer  has  lately  as- 
serted that  lo,  the  satellite  of  Jupiter  nearest  that 
planet,  must  be  far  in  advance,  physically  and 
mentally,  of  all  other  bodies  in  our  solar  system, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  always  bathed  in  his  light,  and 
also  in  that  of  his  other  satellites.  And  thus  dur- 
ing the  few  weeks  in  which  the  inclination  of  the 
earth's  axis  brings  these  northern  regions  imme- 
diately under  solar  influence,  all  vegetable  and 
doubtless  all  animal  life  receives  increased  vitality, 
which  OP-  the  coast  of  Norway  is  heightened  by 
the  invigorating  air  of  ocean.  Grass  is  cut  at 
Hammerfest  one  month  after  the  snow  has  melted 
from  the  i^rround. 


HAMMERFEST. 


D/ 


The  midniy^ht  spectacle  between  Tromsoe  and 
Hammerfest  was  less  brilliant  than  the  nii,dit  be- 
fore. The  atmosphere  was  cooler,  the  sky  gra}- 
and  misty  :  but  the  veil  parted  at  the  critical 
moment,  and,  as  we  had  now  reached  a  higher 
latitude,  the  sun  sank  only  to  a  point  several  de- 
grees above  the  horizon,  before  rising  again.  The 
interest  of  this  phenomenon  is  increased  by  the 
fact  that  a  clear  sky  is  by  no  means  guaranteed. 
During  the  five  nights  of  the  voyage  within  the 
Arctic  Circle  it  often  happens  that  fogs  and  rain 
are  incessant.  The  tourist  ship  that  started  June 
20th,  three  days  before  the  Capella,  never  had  a 
glimpse  of  the  sun  at  midnight  during  the  entire 
voyage  ;  nor  did  the  one  that  sailed  June  2  7tli. 
We  were  therefore  unusually  favored  in  seeing  it 
three  times  in  full  glory.  Of  course  this  is  onl}' 
one  episode  in  the  voyage  ;  the  marvellous  coast 
scenery  is  enough  in  itself  to  entrance  a  lover  of 
nature,  who  readily  sees  how  the  mythopoeic  sense 


158  AORIVAY  NIGHTS. 


of  the  early  Scandinavians  peopled  it  with  deities 
stern  as  its  snow-clad  crags,  remorseless  as  its  gla- 
ciers, wild  and  tragic  as  its  winter  winds. 

We  arrived  Sunday,  the  morning  of  the  27th, 
at  Hammerfest,  an  unimaginably  quaint  place  and 
the  most  northerlv  town  in  the  world,  althoucfh 
tiny  settlements  have  tentatively  crept  still  nearer 
to  the  mystic  Pole.  The  wa}'ward  streets  straggle 
around  the  harbor,  which  is  crowded  with  un- 
familiar craft  manned  by  Danish,  Norse,  and  Rus- 
sian sailors,  brawny  and  sometimes  picturesque, 
lolling  on  piles  of  lumber  on  shore,  pipe  in 
mouth,  or  taking  on  cargo.  The  nature  of  the 
cargo  reveals  itself — the  ubiquitous  Cod  is  master 
of  the  field  ;  he  is  manufactured  into  oil,  he 
hangs  on  lines  along  the  harl)or,  is  packed  in 
tumuli  on  the  shore,  and  is  a  Smell  forever,  near 
and  from  afiir.  We  enjoyed  the  ''freedom  of 
the  city "' for  only  an  hour  or  so,  as  our  captain 
had  to  keep  his  appointment  with  the  Royal  Orb 


HAMMtKl  I  SI. 


l6o  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

at  the  North  Cape  twelve  hours  later.  We  sent 
telegrams  and  letters  for  the  sake  of  the  post- 
marks ;  and  we  looked  at  the  granite  meridian 
column  erected  to  commemorate  the  measure- 
ment of  the  number  of  degrees  between  the 
mouth  of  the  Danube  and  Hammerfest.  The 
sidewalks  are  raised  two  to  four  feet  above  the 
streets,  and  are  reached  by  rude  wooden  steps. 
Several  small  shops  displayed  bear-skins,  walrus- 
tusks,  and  Lapp  costumes,  and  we  encountered 
several  Lapps  and  Finns  strolling  about  in  Sunday 
garb,  cleaner  and  brighter  in  color,  some  of  them 
on  their  way  to  the  church,  where  the  bishop  was 
holding  a  special  service. 

We  ascended  the  hill  on  which  the  primitive 
edifice  stands,  and  entering,  took  places  near  the 
door.  Two  or  three  hundred  decent'  folk,  con- 
spicuous among  them  the  Lapps,  were  devoutly 
listening  to  a  depressing  hymn  which  was  followed 
by  a  high-keyed,  monotonous  prayer  or  exhorta- 


HAMMER  FES  T.  I  6  I 


tion,  we  could  not  decide  which.  Our  moments 
were  few ;  we  turned  to  retreat,  but  lo !  the 
verger  had  locked  the  door  inside  and  put  the  key 
in  his  pocket.  We  motioned  for  release,  but  he 
shook  his  head.  We  waited  five  impatient  minutes, 
and  I  then  made  a  second  appeal,  whispering  the 
word  "Dampskib,"  and  pointing  on  my  watch 
to  the  hour  of  its  departure.  That  immovable 
custodian  only  shook  his  head  more  obstinately, 
and  gazed  fixedly  at  the  preacher.  We  heard  the 
ship's  bell  ring  for  the  passengers'  return,  and 
trembled  at  the  thought  of  being  abandoned  to 
our  fate.  At  last  the  prayer  reached  its  ultimate 
note,  the  key  was  deliberately  turned  in  the  door, 
we  flew  to  the  boat,  the  boat  flew  to  the  steamer, 
and  "home,  sweet  home"  was  never  more  wel- 
come. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

NORTH    CAPE    AND    MIDNIGHT    SUN. 

AFTER  we  left  Hammerfest  and  its  amenities, 
the  scenery  changes  in  character ;  Alpine 
peaks  give  place  to  monotonous  high  plateaux 
almost  bare  of  vegetation.  No  sound  breaks  the 
silence.  No  object  invades  the  solitude  except 
flocks  of  sea-birds  which  hover  over  shoals  of  fish 
or  congregate  upon  their  rocky  homes.  As  the 
day  moves  on  we  watch  the  sky  with  deep  interest, 
for  filmy  fronds  and  plumes  of  cloud  lightly  gather 
over  the  blue,  and  we  know  that  fog  and  mist  will 
be  fatal  to  our  hope  for  that  supreme  epoch,  our 
only  midnight  hour  at  the  North  Cape. 
"Captain,  what  of  the  barometer?'' 


"The  glass  goes  up,"  he  rephes,  not  without  a 
deprecating  glance  around  the  horizon.  He  iden- 
tifies himself  with  our  desires  and  feels  an  almost 
personal  responsibility  for  their  fulfilment.  We 
study  the  heavens  like  astronomers  ;  we  walk  the 
deck  with  restless  steps,  and  note  all  signs.  The 
horizon  has  grown  broader  as  we  advance  in  lati- 
tude, and  now,  at  nearly  72' ,  its  swee})  a})pears 
illimitable.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  clouds  have  all 
melted  out  of  sight,  and  a  vast  unbroken  dome  of 
pale  blue  spreads  over  a  pale  lavender  sea.  We 
are  now  passing  the  island  of  Mageroe,  whose  dark 
slate-rocks  are  furrowed  with  deep  clefts,  and  at 
the  extremity  rises  before  us,  one  thousantl  feet  al- 
most perpendicularly  from  the  water,  the  isolated 

"huge  and  haggard  shape 
Of  that  unknown  North  Cape." 

It  is  well  known  now  to  pilgrims  from  all  tour- 
istdom  who   scraml)le   up   the   steep,  rough  path. 


164  .VOJ^H^AV  NIGHTS. 


drink  champagne  at  the  summit,  and  hide  in 
hilarity  their  sentiment  or  their  lack  of  sentiment 
as  the  case  may  be.  It  is  a  wearisome  climb  of  at 
least  an  hour,  impeded  also  by  loose  falling  stones, 
but  is  guarded  at  certain  points  by  ropes,  and 
this  year  has  been  otherwise  improved.  A  fisher- 
man has  built  a  hut  at  the  base  of  the  rock,  where 
he  lives  during  the  six  weeks'  summer.  In  the 
course  of  another  decade  or  two,  no  doubt,  some 
''enterprising"  landlord  would  erect  on  the  top  a 
"  Grand  Hotel  du  Nord  Cap,"  had  not  Nature  abso- 
lutely insisted  on  all  rights  of  fief  and  investiture. 

The  boats  were  lowered,  the  passengers  then 
landed  and  accompanied  by  sailors  and  officers 
toiled  to  the  plateau  above.  Two  or  three  who 
were  not  strong  enough  for  this  task  returned  to 
the  steamer  with  handfuls  of  wild-flowers,  and 
contented  themselves  with  the  sufficiently  extensive 
prospect  from  the  captain's  bridge. 

For  myself,  I  much , preferred  that  quiet  post  of 


NORTH   CAPE  AND   MIDNIGHT  SUN.         1 65 


observation  to  the  gay  champagne-party  on  the 
summit.  Standing  there  ahnost  alone,  with  the 
silent  helmsman  at  the  unmoving  wheel,  and  one 
or  two  spell-bound  spectators,  the  poetry  of  the 
scene  was  irresistible.  The  sun,  ten  and  a  half 
degrees  above  the  northern  horizon,  with  no  pomp 
or  panoply  of  cloud  about  him,  cast  a  dazzling 
sheen  over  the  smooth,  reflecting  waves.  Foun- 
tains of  spray  from  disporting  whales  glistened 
against  the  pale  j)rimrose  sky.  A  single  snowy 
bird  skimmed  over  the  surface,  its  wings  tipped 
with  gold  as  it  flew  beyond  the  sight.  Far  behind 
us  were  the  dreary  islands  untenanted  by  human- 
ity, all  Europe  and  Asia,  the  emotions  and  pursuits 
of  busy  life,  receding  into  shadowy  indistinctness  ; 
in  front  lay  the  immeasurable  sea,  quivering  in 
light  till  lost  in  indefinite  distance.  The  stillness 
was  almost  appalling  ;  not  even  a  ripple  broke 
upon  our  anchored  ship.  The  light  upon  sky 
and  water  was  not   the    light  of  day,  nor  yet   of 


r 


m 


XORTH   CAPE  AND  MIDNIGHT  SUN.        167 


night,  but  an  ineffably  tender  blending  of  both  in 
some  divine  alembic.  As  in  dreams  we  are  some- 
times freed  from  the  fetters  of  gravitation  and  soar 
upward  by  mere  act  of  volition,  so  it  seemed 
that  from  our  poise  upon  that  plank  it  would  be 
easy  to  rise  and  float  away  to  the  very  heart  of 
that  heaven  where  there  is  no  alternation  of  twi- 
light and  dawn,  no  strophe  and  antistrophe  of 
light  and  darkness,  because  ''there  is  no  night 
there!" 

Suddenly  the  boom  of  a  gun  announces  that  the 
sun  has  that  instant  touched  his  lowest  perigee  ; 
and  with  the  precision  of  a  royal  planet,  without 
Haste  and  without  Rest,  he  turns  his  chariot- 
wheels,  flings  aside  the  Yesterday,  and  inaugurates 
To-day.  Of  all  the  impressive  natural  spectacles 
it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  behold,  not  one 
has  so  forcibly  appealed  to  the  imagination  or 
has  left  such  vivid  trace  on  memory  ;  and  I  con- 
fess to    deep  regret   when  the    prow  of    the  ship 


68  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 


turned  away  from  that  mysterious,  illimitable  sea 
which  seems  to  whisper 

"  That  which  you  lose  you  see  around  you  lying  ; 
That  which  you  own  is  far-off  and  undying." 

Our  party  returned  from  their  scramble  up 
and  down  the  Cape,  wet,  tired,  and  in  high  spirits, 
having  dreamed  no  dreams,  save  of  white  bears, 
of  icebergs,  and  of  all  the  bristling  ramparts  from 
which  the  Polar  Sea  defies  science  and  curiosity. 
Let  us  hope  that  this  one  secret  may  remain  a 
secret — "One,  by  Itself,  singly,  everlastingly 
Alone!" — lest  man  should  sit  down  and  weep  that 
not  another  inch  is  left  for  him  to  conquer. 

We  nearly  missed  a  tragedy  that  da}-.  Among 
our  passengers  was  a  very  young  Englishman, 
who  became  a  conspicuous  numeral  on  our  eight- 
day  clock,  partly  on  account  of  his  irrepressi- 
ble high  spirits  and  partly  because  he  was  accom- 
panied by  a  delightful  little  dog.  Puck,  in  black 


yORTB    CAPE  Ai\D   MIDNIGHT  S(7JV.        1 69 

and  tan.  They  were  both  ubiquitous,  all  over  the 
deck  at  the  same  moment,  always  in  a  frolic, 
r.nd  dons  cafuarades  with  every  one.  The  master, 
with  a  boy's  passion  for  adventure,  started  to 
ascend  the  Cape  a  little  in  advance  of  the  party, 
but,  instead  of  taking  the  usual  safe  path,  he  at- 
tempted to  climb  over  a  dangerous  mass  of  ice 
and  snow  which  entirely  covered  one  side  of  the 
mountain.  The  sailors  who  rowed  the  boat  over 
protested  in  vain  ;  up  he  went,  floundering  in 
snow,  until  about  half-way  he  sank  into  a  cre- 
vasse of  ice  that  left  only  his  head  and  shoulders 
visible.  A  fisherman  shouted  to  the  captain,  who 
was  in  a  small  boat  below.  Angry  and  alarmed, 
he  exclaimed,  "He  never  can  climb  up,  and  he 
cannot  get  down  ;"  hurried  orders  were  issued  to 
the  sailors,  two  of  whom  were  dispatched  to  the 
rescue  from  below,  and  a  third,  by  the  usual  path; 
to  lower  ropes  from  above.  With  some  difficulty 
hewas  hoisted  up,  white  and  nearlv  frozen  ;  brandy- 


lyo  A'OJ^irA)'  XIGI/TS. 


flasks  were  offered  by  the  excited  spectators,  as 
well  as  sundry  disapproving  remarks  to  the  reckless 
boy,  which  received  no  reply  except  "1  must  have 
looked  jc»lly  comical  stuck  in  that  icehole  !"  He 
was  too  plucky  to  admit  that  he  was  half  dead  with 
exhaustion  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  midnight  coffee 
was  swallowed  he  and  his  faithful  dog  disappeared 
to  the  cabin  for  many  hours.  When  there  \\as 
a  general  promenade  over  a  glacier,  the  following 
day,  the  officer  in  attendance  ordered  two  sailors 
to  follow  that  young  man  and  not  lose  sight  of 
him  for  a  moment.  By  the  laws  of  the  steamer 
company  the  captain  is  required  to  wait  two  days 
for  a  passenger  detained  by  casualty  ;  but  this  is 
an  inconvenience  to  be  avoided  if  possible. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE    RETURN    VOYAGE. 

THE  iiist  day  of  our  return  we  paused  at  Swer- 
hOlt,  in  the  Porsanger  fiord,  the  largest  of 
several  islands  monopolized  by  sea-birds.  Up  to 
the  height  of  several  hundred  feet  it  was  covered 
with  thousands  of  the  pretty  creatures,  that  gyrated 
with  incessant  chatter  or  sat  in  long,  unbroken 
lines  which  resembled  rows  of  pearls  on  the  dark 
slate-ledges.  At  the  firing  of  two  or  three  large 
cruns  thev  rose  in  fright  and  anger,  dashed  in  mad 
circles,  darted  in  aimless  directions  with  multi- 
plied screams  which,  made  confluent  by  distance, 
resembled,  as  we  sailed  away,  the  distant  shriek  of 
a  locomotive  ;  a  large  number,    however,  bravely 


172  JVO/^lVAV  NIGHTS. 


remained  on  their  nests,  but  doubtless  said  all  the 
unpleasant  things  about  us  they  could  think  of. 

The  sea-birds  of  Norway  are  so  interesting  that 
1  would  gladly  speak  of  their  characters  and  habits 
at  length,  were  it  not  that  the  monopolists  in  the 
"Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge"  have  carried 
off  the  entire  harvest  in  this  field,  without  leaving 
a  grain  for  the  modest  gleaner.  But,  even  at  the 
risk  of  telling  an  oft-told  tale,  I  must  repeat  what 
I  heard  orally  about  the  eider-ducks.  These  par- 
ticularly pleasing  birds  are  very  numerous  in  cer- 
tain localities,  and  swim  fearlessly  in  the  very  track 
of  the  steamers.  When  a  duck  and  her  mate 
have  flaunted  about  sufficiently  in  their  honey- 
moon, and  have  decided  to  rear  a  famil}-  and  have 
a  "settled  home,"'  they  waddle  to  the  shore  and 
choose  with  much  fastidiousness,  but  little  perspi- 
cuity, an  eligible  site — generally  on  the  ground  in 
a  retreat  far  from  the  madding  crowd,  but  occa- 
sionally in  the  cleft  of  a  rock,  and   they  have  been 


THE  RETURN    VOYAGE.  1 73 

known  to  take  possession  of  a  kitchen-oven.  The 
nest  is  made  of  sea-moss,  profusely  padded  with 
tender  gray  down  from  the  duck's  breast.  This 
accompHshed  and  the  eggs  laid,  the  pere  de  fainille 
wanders  back  to  his  piscatorial  and  other  amuse- 
ments in  very  human  style,  while  the  poor 
mother  finds  her  nest  suddenly  stripped  of  both 
eggs  and  down  by  the  monster,  man.  She  then 
makes  her  way  through  the  waters  to  her  lord, 
who  has  been  considerate  enough  to  leave  his 
address,  and  they  wade  back  to  shore  for  a  second 
experiment.  But  as  the  duck  has  already  sacri- 
ficed her  down,  the  drake  now  contributes  his 
own,  which,  however,  is  white  and  less  fine  and 
valuable.  The  nests  are  despoiled  a  second  time  ; 
but  if  the  robbery  is  again  repeated,  the  discour- 
aged birds  depart  permanently  from  that  part  of 
the  coast.  Strangers  are  not  allowed  to  visit  the 
bird-islands,  and  Norwegians  are  careful  to  give 
the  third  brood  everv  chance  to  hatch  ;   when  the 


1 7  4  ^'0R  WA  V  NIGH  rs. 


ducklings  are  large  enough  to  make  their  first 
plunge  into  the  sea,  they  are  protected  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  falcons  and  other  foes  which 
hover  above.  The  islands  are  sources  of  large 
profit,  and  become  heirlooms  in  families,  of  some- 
times one  or  two  hundred  years'  descent. 

The  great  white  auks  which  inhabit  some  of 
the  far  northerly  islands  are  models  of  a  social 
propriety  and  philanthropy  that  is  limited  to  Auk- 
land.  The  females  seem  to  be  fewer  in  number 
than  the  males  ;  and  as  their  conjugal  relations  are 
strictly  observed,  the  bachelor-bird  is  forced  to 
bide  his  time  until  death  comes  to  the  rescue  and 
gives  him  an  opportunity  to  unite  himself  with 
his  brother's  widow,  which,  not  being  a  citizen  of 
England,  he  can  do  with  impunity.  While  await- 
ing this  auspicious  event,  he  does  not  sulk  or  rush 
into  ornithological  dissipation,  but  makes  himself 
useful  by  assisting  in  the  care  of  the  young  brood, 
and  instructing  them  in  all  the  rudiments  of  auk 


THE  RHTCRX    ]'OYAGH. 


I  0 


education.  (As  a  plain  matter  of  fact,  it  mij^ht  be 
termetl  auktvardiiess. )  If  ])uth  parents  die,  he 
adui)ts  the  entire  famil}-  ! 

One  da}-  two  great  eagles  flew  near  the  Capella, 
quite  formidable  enough  to  justify  the  stories  of 
their  audacity  in  attacking  oxen  and  other  large 
animals  :  bv  the  device  of  dipping  their  wings  in 
the  waves,  then  in  the  sand,  they  blind  their  })re}' 
by  flapi)ing  against  the  eyes,  when  it  loses  in  pain 
the  power  of  resistance.  The  lemming,  a  rodent 
larger  than  the  water-rat,  is  a  dreaded  devastator  of 
wheat-flelds,  and,  notwithstanding  the  agencv  of 
owls  and  hawks  in  destroying  them,  they  were 
formerly  made  the  subject  of  solemn  exorcism  by 
a  Lemming  Litanv  in  the  churches. 

In  the  rock}-  archipelago  oft"  this  coast  is  a  most 
desolate  and  gruesome  island  to  which  a  noble 
Danish  lady  was  once  banished  for  S(.)me  miscon- 
duct, and  who  perished  at  last  by  the  upsetting  of 
a  boat  on  her  wav  to  church  in   another  almost 


176  NO/?lVAV  NIGHTS. 

equally  weird  locality.  It  offers  as  melancholy 
a  mise-en-schie  as  the  most  sensational  novelist 
could  desire. 

Again  we  paused  e7i  rouie,  to  visit  an  extensive 
glacier  where  most  of  the  passengers  landed, 
walked  a  mile  and  a  half  over  a  marshy  plain  to 
the  base  of  the  field  of  ice,  which  they  traversed 
for  a  short  distance.  It  was  never  a  dolce  far 
iiiente  to  make  one's  rather  perilous  way  over  those 
beautiful  blue,  slippery  and  jagged  tracts,  and  one 
of  my  party  described  her  experience  in  this  way  : 
''I  was  flat  on  my  back  or  down  on  my  knees 
most  of  the  time,  although  there  was  a  sailor  on 
each  side  and  an  officer  in  front  of  me  ;  the  sole 
of  one  of  my  boots  was  torn  off,  and  I  nearly 
lost  the  other  ;  it  poured  as  we  returned,  and  every 
one  was  drenched  ;  I  went  to  bed  after  a  cup  of 
hot  ginger-tea,  and  my  clothes  went  to  the  engine- 
room  to  dry  :  but,  notwithstanding  all  this,  it  was 
the    most   exhilarating    experience    of    the    whole 


THE  RETURN    VOYAGE.  1 77 


voyage,    full    of  fun   and    rivalry  for  the   farthest 
point." 

The  final  act  in  our  varied  excursion  was  a  visit 
to  a  whale  which  had  been  caught  the  previous 
day  and  was  lying  on  the  premises  of  a  factory 
near  Tromsoe,  where  they  dispose  of  the  mortal 
remains  of  the  race — a  cetacean  crematory  which 
gives  out  an  odor  not  to  be  described.  The  crea- 
ture, nearly  fifty  feet  long,  lay  upon  the  shore, 
and  beside  it  a  baby-whale  which  had  never 
even  begun  its  briny  career.  The  sight  was  a 
privilege,  no  doubt ;  but  not  one  to  linger  over, 
for  already  the  workmen  were  hewing  at  one  mas- 
sive longitudinal  half;  the  other,  still  unmutilated, 
was  by  request  turned  over  for  exhibition — and  all 
Arabia's  spices  and  Lubin's  perfumes  would  have 
been  overpowered  by  the  odor  that  pervaded  the 
place.  A  friendly  warning  beforehand  had  led  me 
to  bring  a  bottle  of  eau-de-Cologne,  with  which 
we    nearly    suff"ocated    ourselves     to    no    purpose. 


17 a  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

The  genial  festivities  of  the  ' '  last  dinner"  on 
board  ship  have  generally  lost  prestige  since  the 
ranks  of  travel  have  enlarged  ;  but  the  parting 
banquet  on  the  Capella  was  a  pleasant  reminis- 
cence quite  in  keeping  with  the  voyage.  Marvels 
of  confectionery  decorated  the  tables,  as  well  as 
all  the  varieties  offish,  flesh,  and  fowl  which  Nor- 
way offers  at  this  season.  Our  neighbors  the 
Russian  Oeneral,  the  Upsala  Professor,  and  the 
Swedish  ?klember  of  Parliament  had  previously 
held  a  conclave,  the  result  of  which  was  a  com- 
plimentary flow  of  chamj)agne,  and  a  long,  solemn 
oration,  in  French,  from  the  ^I.  P.,  in  which  our 
vo}'age  was  compared  to  the  passage  of  the  Israel- 
ites over  the  Red  Sea,  conducted  by  the  captain 
in  the  ;7>7f  of  Closes  !  If  this  s})eech  was  a  fair 
specimen  of  those  c^fltered  to  the  Swedish  Parlia- 
ment, that  august  body  is  to  be  pitied.  The  cap- 
tain replied  in  a  few  modest  and  hearty  words, 
and  a  round  of  toasts  in  three  or  four  languages, 


THE  RHTURX    VOYAGE.  1 79 


ending  in  the  old  Scandinavian  ''  Skaal!"  which 
to  EngHsh  ears  is  more  suggestive  of  death  than 
of  festivity.  Then  followed  compliments  to  the 
"orator  of  the  day,"  the  ship,  and  the  officers; 
and  when  we  all  went  on  deck  to  sip  our  ca/eiwir, 
and  to  watch  the  waning  and  waxing  of  our  last 
nocturne  in  northern  waters,  a  final  resolution  was 
proposed,  namely,  "Never,  never  to  sail  on  any 
ocean  but  the  Arctic,  or  in  any  ship  but  the 
Capella,  Iveson,  master."' 

Our  tour  ended  pracHcally  when  we  landed  at 
Trondhjem  ;  and  it  was  not  without  a  tinge  of  re- 
gret that  we  obeyed  the  imperious  mandate  of  the 
locomotive,  and  found  ourselves,  after  one  night's 
ride  through  charming  scenery,  at  Christiania,  en 
route  for  Sweden. 

We  were  leaving  much  unseen,  especially  Ber- 
gen, quaintest  of  the  three  cities  ;  the  eminently 
picturesque  fiords  in  its  vicinity,  and  the  very 
primitive    Telemarken    district    on    the    post-road 


i8o  ^'OJ^JrA]^  xig/its. 

thence  to  Christiania.  Pleasures,  however,  must 
be  economized,  not  exhausted  :  enough — for  the 
moment — of  Norway  summer  nights  ;  but  their 
unique  and  tender  beauty  will  rest  on  our  memo- 
ries with  the  vivid  hues  of  an  after-glow  on  snow- 
crowned  mountain-heights. 


CHAPTER    X. 

SWEDEN. 
{Par  Parenthese.) 

SWEDEN  is  to  most  travellers  a  parenthesis 
between  Norway  and  Russia,  comprised  of 
Stockholm  and  the  Dalsland  and  Gotha  canals. 
The  latter  form  so  pleasing  a  feature  that  it  is  cer- 
tainly unwise  to  fly  by  rail  to  the  capital  without 
allowing  an  added  thirty  h(nirs  for  the  sake  of  see- 
ing these  celebrated  water-routes  which  are  justly 
the  pride  of  the  country.  We  left  Christiania  by 
rail  at  7  a.m.,  had  a  fine  view  of  the  city,  its  hills 
and  fiord,  on  starting,  and  after  six  or  seven  hours 
through  a  fertile  and  pretty  but  not  impressive 
region  we  arrived  at  Ed,  whence  five  minutes  on 
a  local  train  brought  us  to  the  waiting  steamer  on 


1 82  xoj^if\-iy  xiGJiTS. 

tlie  Dalsland  Canal — a  Lilliputian  craft  only  six- 
teen feet  broad,  clean  and  comfortable  enough  for 
our  voyage,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  of  twenty-four 
hours.  We  were  the  only  passengers,  except  an 
occasional  peasant  or  two  on  and  off,  and  the 
captain,  who  spoke  tolerable  English,  was  assid- 
uous in  his  efforts  to  entertain  and  instruct  us  ; 
and  so,  as  the  sleepy  little  steamer  puffed  gently 
through  the  water,  we  subsided  into  a  lotus-eat- 
ing dream  of  canal  gliding  into  lake,  and  lake 
into  canal,  of  pauses  at  the  numerous  locks,  de- 
scent between  ponderous  stone  walls,  and  tlien  a 
rush  of  waters  and  we  were  off  again — always 
past  wooded  shores  overhanging  trees,  lovely 
islands,  and  as  unlike  as  possible  most  canals, 
except  some  of  those  in  Holland.  The  Dalsland 
unites  several  l)eautiful  lakes  between  Lake 
Wenner  and  Norway,  and  as  they  rise  to  different 
heights,  making  the  sum  total  about  three  hun- 
dred feet,  the  locks  are  man  v.      We  often  walked 


Sll'/^DEX.  183 


from  one  to  another,  gathered  scant  raspberries, 
^vild  roses  galore,  lilies  of  the  valley,  the  flower  of 
Baldur  the  Beautiful,  and  pale  little  pansies  which 
in  Scandinavian  legends  are  called  the  Devil's 
flowers,  as  the  magpie  is  still  the  Devil's  bird. 

Everything  that  lives,  plant  or  animal,  was  en- 
dowed by  those  old  Goths,  even  more  than  by  the 
Greeks,  with  moral  attributes,  good  or  evil.  It 
was  only  by  an  arrow  made  from  the  mistletoe, 
which  has  no  individual  existence,  that  Baldur 
was  killed  by  his  enemy  Asgaard,  all  things  that 
grow  and  live  having  sworn  to  the  goddess  Freya 
that  they  would  not  lend  themselves  to  the  purpose. 

Our  steamer,  for  some  inscrutable  reason, 
stopped  during  the  night  at  a  place  called  Bil- 
lingsfors,  where  passengers  are  furnished  with  beds 
on  shore  when  the  resources  of  the  boat  are 
exhausted.  It  boasts  only  four  cabins,  with  one 
l)ed  in  each — a  penitential  pallet,  as  unrelenting 
as  that  of  a  Camaldoli  monk.      The  finest  point 


184  NOR  WAY  XIGIITS. 

on  the  route  is  at  Hafverud,  where,  owing  to 
some  local  difficulty  of  rock  and  soil,  an  aque- 
duct was  constructed  over  which  the  boat  passes, 
presenting  a  unique  spectacle  from  the  shore  be- 
low. Although  this  canal  is  well  worth  seeing, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  its  scenery  is  tame  and 
monotonous  after  the  fiords  and  mountain-ranges 
of  Norway.  It  were  better  if  possible  to  visit 
Sweden  first.  We  left  the  steamer  at  Kopmanna- 
bro.  where  we  took  the  rail  to  Trollhatten,  occupy- 
ing two  to  three  hours. 

At  the  hotel  restaurant  here  we  ate  our  first 
Swedish  dinner,  somewhat  unique  in  api)oint- 
ment  al  the  railway  stations  and  ordinary  inns. 
The  table  was  nearly  covered  with  from  a  dozen 
to  twent}'  "appetizers,"'  or  small  dishes  of  as 
many  varieties  of  salt  and  smoked  fish,  sausages, 
and  ])ickled  vegetables,  amid  which  brandy  and 
liqueurs  were  conspicuous.  The  hot  dishes  were 
on  another  table,  from  which  we  helped  ourselves; 


^VVEDEX.  185 


and  when  we  paid  the  account,  we  made  our  own 
statement  of  the  items,  the  correctness  of  which 
was  unquestioned.  The  fruit  of  the  season  was 
wild  mountain  strawberries,  which  were  abundant 
and  good. 

Half  an  hour's  drive  took  us  to  Trollhatten 
Falls,  which  are  considered  even  finer  than  those 
at  Schaffhausen,  and  on  our  way  we  stopped  to 
see  the  remarkable  locks  of  the  Gotha  Canal,  a 
great  triumph  of  engineering  skill  when  they  were 
cut,  but  probably  surpassed  by  the  science  of  our 
day.  It  was  early  in  the  fifteenth  century  that  the 
problem  was  first  presented  of  uniting  the  east  and 
west  coasts  through  the  numerous  intervening 
lakes  and  rivers,  and  thus  making  an  islantl  of  the 
southern  part  of  Sv.eden.  The  cataracts  and 
rocks  proved  too  formidable  for  the  engineers  of 
that  period.  Several  subsequent  attempts  were 
made,  which  served  the  j)urpose  tolerably  well, 
but  the  fait  accompli  was   due   to   P^icsson.    who 


Troi.lhatten  Falls. 


SWEDEN.  187 


added  several  new  and  larger  locks  fur  the  trans- 
port of  vessels  from  the  North  Sea  to  Lake  Wen- 
ner  by  a  watery  staircase  one  hundred  and  forty- 
four  feet  above  the  sea.  The  locks,  which  are  cut 
through  solid  rock  and  overshadowed  by  trees, 
are  as  picturesque  as  practical. 

The  Falls  of  Trollhatten  far  surpass  in  breadth 
all  cataracts  to  be  seen  in  Norway,  as  they  are 
an  outlet  from  one  of  the  largest  lakes  in  Europe ; 
they  are  six  in  number  within  a  hundred  and  fifty 
yards,  and  the  effect  is  of  force  rather  than  of 
grandeur,  as  the  enormous  volume  of  water  is 
thwarted  and  fretted  by  great  masses  of  rocks  and 
islands  in  the  middle  of  the  stream.  In  fact  they 
form  a  terrific  whirl  and  roar  of  speed,  which 
tosses  its  white  foam  high  in  air  and  deserves 
all  the  adjectives  that  describe  "how  the  water 
comes  down  from  Lodore,"'  until  they  subside  into 
a  flow  of  crested  rapids.  A  fine  abiding-place 
was  this   for  all   that   fanciful   race  of  wood  and 


1 88  ^^OJ^IVAV  NIGHTS. 

water  spirits  who  were  as  capricious  as  the  ele- 
ments which  they  personated — the  Grims,  spirits 
of  the  cataracts  ;  the  Haafmen,  people  of  the  sea  ; 
the  Stromkarls,  deities  of  the  rivers. 

The  old  Swedes  are  said  to  have  been  even  more 
fanciful  than  the  Norwegians  :  one  of  the  most 
poetic  ideas  was  that  elves  and  trees  were  identi- 
cal— trees  by  day,  elves  by  night  ;  when  enemies 
invaded  their  territory,  battalions  of  birch  and 
aspens  marched  out  in  solid  phalanx  to  attack 
them,  but  with  the  dawn  of  day  marched  back 
again  and  resumed  their  vegetable  immobility. 
That  these  superstitions  were  actual  motors  in 
their  lives  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  the  state 
papers  of  Sweden  records  still  exist  of  trials  and 
condemnations  of  men  and  women  for  witchcraft, 
more  legalized  than  the  spasmodic  crusades  against 
Anglo-Saxon  witches  at  about  the  same  period. 
One  of  the  many  legends  that  cluster  around 
Trollhatten  Falls  is  that  of  a  voung  girl  who  was 


SWEDEN.  189 


imprisoned  in  a  neighboring  cavern  inhabited  bv 
brigands,  and  threatened  with  some  awful  deatli 
if  she  revealed  their  hiding-place  or  attempted  t(> 
escape.  On  a  Christmas  night,  when  the  ground 
was  white  with  snow,  she  obtained  leave  to  go  out 
for  a  bundle  of  straw,  which  she  dropped  blade 
by  blade  on  her  return,  and  thus  disclosed  the  se- 
cret of  the  cavern,  and  led  to  the  capture  and  exe- 
cution of  the  robbers. 

The  custom  of  putting  bells  on  cows  doubtless 
originated  in  Scandinavia,  where  they  were  first 
employed  as  a  defence  against  the  Trolls,  or 
spirits  of  the  woods,  who  were  believed  to  milk 
the  animals  at  night  unless  warned  away  by  the 
tintinnabulation. 

The  train  from  Gotheburg  took  us  on  at  8  p.m., 
and  after  fourteen  hours  of  that  passive  exercise 
which  goes  by  the  name  of  sleep  in  a  railway-car- 
riage we  found  ourselves  delightfully  comfortable  in 
the  Grand  Hotel  at  Stockholm.      Breakfast  was  as 


190  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 


welcome  as  were  our  luxurious  rooms,  for  the  res- 
taurant on  the  road  afforded  nothing  but  bread 
and  the  cruelty  of  "  appetizers,"  which  create  a 
want  without  supplying  it.  Travel  certainly  owes 
many  of  its  pleasures  to  contrast.  We  were 
charmed  with  even  the  first  appearance  of  Stock- 
holm. It  is  certainly  the  most  picturesquely  situ- 
ated of  all  European  cities,  as  it  is  built  on  several 
islands  in  Lake  Malar,  and  also  has  a  harbor  on 
an  arm  of  the  Baltic.  In  these  bright  waters  ply 
active  little  steamers,  large  vessels  produce-laden, 
white-winged  skiffs,  and  tiny  row-boats,  in  endless 
number  and  variety.  Handsome  bridges,  many 
broad,  regular  streets,  substantial  buildings,  and, 
dominating  almost  every  part  of  the  city,  the  dig- 
nified royal  palace,  complete  the  picture.  The 
"Venice  of  the  North,"  as  of  course  it  is  dubbed, 
bears  not  the  slightest  resemblance  to  the  Venice 
of  the  South,  except  that  they  are  both  built  on 
islands  connected  by  bridges.      The  style  of  archi- 


SWEDEX. 


91 


teclure,  the  aspect  of  the  people,  the  atmosphere, 
and  the  fashion  of  the  water-craft  are  far  as  the 
antipodes  asunder. 


Swedish  Peasant  and  Baby, 


We  passed  a  week  at  Stockholm  with  great 
enjoyment,  heightened  h\  the  arrival  of  friendly 
companions    of   dipeUa    memory,    and  we  could 


192  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 


have  lingered  a  month  or  two  without  weari- 
ness ;  for,  after  due  attention  to  whatever  is 
characteristic  and  historical,  there  is  endless 
amusement  in  steamer  excursions,  to  charming 
suburbs  and  gay,  handsome  gardens  echoing  with 
good  music.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  only  enjoyable  sum- 
mer city  in  Europe,  and  the  air  is  irreproachable. 
The  mediaeval  castle  of  Gripsholm  is  not  far  off, 
filled  with  furniture  and  tapestry  that  would  break 
the  heart  of  a  covetous  collector  :  and  a  day  or 
two  might  well  be  spent  at  Upsala,  the  intellectual 
centre  of  Sweden,  as  it  once  was  the  stronghold 
of  Scandinavian  paganism.  Our  only  regret 
here,  as  elsewhere,  was  the  necessity  for  post- 
poning to  the  shadowy  by-and-by  many  such 
temptations. 

On  one  of  those  small,  neat  steamers  that  pl\' 
to  and  from  the  island  of  Drottningholm  we  met, 
one  day,  a  distinguished  gentleman  whose  cour- 
teous   attentions    during    our    stay  in   Stockholm 


SJf/iD/z\V.  193 


gave  us  much  information  and  enjoyment — one  of 
those  happily-attuned  mortals  whose  wealth  of 
facts  and  fancies  finds  equally  facile  expression  in 
a  dozen  different  languages.  He  pioneered  us 
through  the  mazes  of  the  park,  which  is  a  modest 
copy  of  Versailles  adorned  with  sculptures  in  mar- 
ble and  bronze,  to  a  Chinese  toy  of  a  palace,  built 
and  furnished  throughout  with  Celestial  handicraft 
as  a  surprise  to  a  royal  lady  on  her  birthday.  Ad- 
joining this  is  a  small  building  called  the  dining- 
room,  where  some  sovereign  of  mechanical  turn 
constructed  a  table  that  slides  through  the  floor, 
and  is  served  with  successive  courses  without  appa- 
rent agency.  The  large  palace  of  Drottningholm, 
which  is  an  occasional  residence,  contains  the 
usual  fine  furniture,  porcelain,  and  pictures,  under 
watch  and  ward  of  uncommonly  civil  custodians. 
The  principal  attraction  is  a  ball-room  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  a  distinguished  corps  of  Swedish 
and  foreign  monarchs  in  their  respective  uniforms. 


94  A'OJ^J^rAV  NIGHTS. 


The  excursion  to  Drottningholm  is  very  charming 
on  a  summer  evening,  when  a  fihii  of  gold  is  spread 
over  verdant  shores,  white  villas  embowered  in  sil- 
very birches,  flying  boats,  and  calm  blue  waters. 
On  our  return  our  friend  proposed  the  ascent  of  an 
immense  elevator,  whence  the  whole  map — of  city, 
islands,  Lake  Malar  and  the  Baltic — photographed 
itself  on  memory.  It  was  a  generous  convulsion 
of  nature  that  bestowed  upon  this  sheet  of  water 
more  than  twelve  hundred  islands,  in  every  stage 
of  fertility  from  barren  rocks  and  primeval  forests 
to  high  cultivation. 

The  royal  palace,  an  unusually  dignified  and 
massive  structure,  stands  on  a  rocky  eminence,  and 
commands  fine  views  of  sea  and  land.  Of  course 
we  paid  the  usual  visit  to  the  interior  ;  but  as  state 
apartments  repeat  themselves  in  all  royal  resi- 
dences (outside  of  Russia),  when  a  tourist  has 
promenaded  over  a  few  hundred  polished  floors 
and  has  glanced  at  several  thousand  gilded  chairs, 


SWEDEN.  195 


mosaic  tables,  porcelain  vases,  and  the  like,  under 
the  vigilant  eyes  of  polyglot  ciceroni,  he  is  ready 
to  register  a  vow  of  disdainful  and  eternal  import, 
which  if  broken  must  at  least  be  unrecorded  in 
the  breach.  Therefore  I  limit  all  description  of 
the  Stockholm  palace  to  the  private  apartments  of 
the  family,  which  are  worth  noting  because  they 
are  as  unpretentious  and  homelike  as  those  of 
any  private  citizen,  graced,  as  usual,  by  the  refine- 
ments of  books,  photographs,  paintings,  hand- 
worked cushions,  and  various  pretty  but  inexpen- 
sive knick-knacks.  To  the  very  simple  apartment 
of  one  of  the  princes  is  attached  his  work-room, 
which  contains  several  pieces  of  mechanism  from 
his  own  hand.  On  this  side  of  the  ^Muscovite 
frontier  the  divinity  that  doth  hedge  a  king  clips 
its  foliage  every  decade  more  nearly  to  the  popular 
level. 

The  National    Museum   is   a   handsome   edifice 
with  a  portal    of   green    marble,   surmounted    by 


196  .yoJ^lVAV  nights. 


medallion  portraits  of  Swedish  artists.  Colossal 
marble  statues  of  Odin,  Thor,  and  Baldur  guard 
the  vestibule  :  outside  is  a  highly-commended 
group  in  bronze  of  two  combatants  in  a  "girdle- 
duel  " — a  tour  de  force  of  sculpture  which  might 
better  have  spent  itself  on  a  less  ghastly  subject. 
The  principal  attraction  of  the  museum  is  the  ex- 
tremely rich  ethnographical  collection,  which  be- 
gins at  prehistoric  flint  and  bronze  periods.  The 
native  gold  ornaments  of  the  Runic  age  are  par- 
ticularly tasteful,  and  often  refined  in  decoration. 
Ver}'  interesting  also  are  the  implements  and  fur- 
niture of  the  three  past  centuries,  arranged  to- 
gether according  to  their  respective  dates.  The 
gallery  of  antique  and  modern  sculpture  boasts  of 
one  antique  treasure  in  the  "Sleeping  Endymion," 
a  life-size  statue  which  was  found  in  Adrian's  villa 
and  purchased  by  the  art-loving  king,  (justavus  III, 
The  sculptors  of  Sweden  take  higher  rank  than 
its    painters,    l)ut    it    is   to   be   regretted  that   they 


Sll'E/)/iX.  197 


should  not  perpetuate  the  weird  grandeur  of 
Scandinavian  heroes  and  deities  instead  of  feehly 
repeating  the  classic  and  worn-out  gods  and  god- 
desses of  the  ^lediterranean.  A  nude  Venus  and 
a  vine-wreathed  Bacchus  on  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic  are  as  incongruous  with  the  climate  and 
traditions  of  their  j)resent  habitat  as  the  ol)elisk  of 
Rameses  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson. 

The  room  dedicated  to  Dutch  and  Flemish 
painters  presents  many  admirable  specimens  f)f 
Rembrandt.  Van  Dyck,  Teniers,  and  others  ;  but 
on  the  whole  this  art-treasury  is  rather  mediocre, 
especially  in  the  Italian  department.  The  modern 
Scandinavian  collection  offers  more  of  interest  ; 
but  as  the  artists  study  principally  in  German 
schools,  the}-  have  no  distinctive  national  st\  le. 

There  is  one  large  canvas  on  which  Tiderman 
represents  one  of  those  fanatical  ])reachers  often 
found  in  Norway  who  ])ortraA-  the  "terrors  (){  the 
law"  with   the   impassioned    fury  of  the  oKl    Puri- 


J  98  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 

tans,  and  with  the  same  effect  on  the  audience  ; 
women  fall  fainting  to  the  floor,  and  even  men 
are  spell-bound  with  fear.  The  picture  is  highly 
realistic  in  variety  of  feature  and  expression.  More 
attractive,  however,  are  the  cottage-interiors  and 
portraits  of  the  Swedish  artist  Ainalia  Lindegren, 
whose  peasant-children  have  the  grace  and  inno- 
cence of  Arcadia  under  their  homel}-  garb. 

The  shops  of  Stockholm  are  not  beguiling;  old 
silver  at  "  Hammei"s, "' Dalecarlian  costumes  and 
excellent  colored  photographs  of  peasants,  were 
our  only  temptations.  Theatres  were  closed  for  the 
summer;  but  there  was  good  music  in  open-air 
concerts,  especially  at  the  Djargarden,  an  ex- 
tensive park  reached  either  by  boat  or  train,  where 
orderly  crowds  flock  every  pleasant  evening  ;  and 
we  have  memories  of  a  gay  liule  dinner  there 
with  tourist  friends  in  the  veranda  of  the  restau- 
rant, with  echoes  of  Wagner  and  Strauss  in  the 
evening    air,   sunshine    gilding    the    trees,  rippling 


SWEDEN. 


199 


Iciughier,  and  of  course  the  all-enveloping  blue  in- 
cense and  aroma  of  the  ''plant  divine,  of  rarest 
virtue. " 

It  is  superfluous  to  say  that  the  Swedes  have 
a  national  reputation  for  courtesy  and  hospi- 
tality, as  well  as  for  the  sterling  virtues  of  the  Nor- 
M'egians.  We  couUl  not  ex- 
})ect,  in  a  mere  vol  d'oiseau 
between  two  seas,  to  have  any 
j)ersonal  experience  of  this  - 
agreeable  fact ;  but  in  streets  ^ 
and  shops  their  politeness  of  ',\j 
manner  was  noticeable.  They 
are  a  better  -  looking  people 
than  their  neighbors  on  either  side,  though  fair  hair 
and  serene  blue  eyes  are  not  universal  ornaments. 

We  saw  many  Dalecarlian  women  in  the  streets 
in  their  becoming  costume,  which  consists  of 
full  white  sleeves,  colored  bodice  fastened  with 
silver    or   gilded    chains  and   profuse   ornaments, 


Swedish  Costume, 


NORIVAY  NIGHTS. 


short  dark  skirts,  a  high,  close-fitting  woollen  cap, 
and  red  stockings.  They  are  conservative  in 
dress,  like  the  people  of  the  Telemarken  province 
of  Norway,  hard  workers,  and  don  their  costumes 
as  every-day  clothing,  not  merely  to  pose  in  like 
the  Tyrolese  and  Romans.  In  the  Moosebacke 
quarter,  the  "Moses  Hill"  stands  the  picturesque 
red-brick  church  of  the  Riddaesholm  with  its 
tall  perforated  iron  spire — a  Walhalla  of  fame 
where  repose  in  melancholy  state  kings  and  nobles 
of  the  Seraphim  order.  Its  bell,  called  the  Sera- 
phim, never  rings,  nor  are  services  performed,  ex- 
cept for  a  funeral  pageant.  Innumerable  flags  of 
various  countries  and  colors  droop  from  monu- 
ments and  armorial  bearings  which  line  the  interior 
walls,  in  the  conventional  style  that  must  continue 
until,  in  the  development  of  higher  faith,  men  de- 
vise some  more  cheerful  form  of  commemoration. 
When  our  bright  and  busy  week  in  Stockholm 
had  reached  its  close,  we  all  felt  that  Fate  might  do 


SWEDEN. 


something  much  more  displeasing  than  to  send 
us  back  some  future  day  to  that  charming  sum- 
mer citv.  We  said  farewell  over  the  "beaker's 
brim"  to  our  courteous  Swedish  friend,  and,  with 
passports  ''vised"  by  the  Russian  consul,  em- 
barked on  the  steamer  Constant  in  for  the  land  of 
the  Tsar. 


CHAPTER   XL 

FINLAND. 

{A  n  Episode^ 

AS  we  Steamed,  about  6  o'clock  p.m.,  out  of 
the  harbor  where  sits  on  her  throne  of  isl- 
ands the  Queen  of  the  Baltic,  the  fair  city  pre- 
sented a  lovely  picture  :  spires,  roofs,  and  the 
conspicuous  royal  palace  gleamed  in  gold  ;  white 
suburban  villas  made  points  of  light  in  wooded 
headlands  ;  broad  masses  of  trees  formed  contrast- 
ing shadows  ;  half- furled  sails  and  tall  masts  senti- 
nelled the  shining  waters.  Floating  onwards,  the 
glittering  details  gradually  concentrated  into  a 
point  of  unity  which  soon  was  lost  to  sight  on 
the  misty  horizon.  A  few  hours  later  the  sun  also 
quenched  his  fires  in  the  sea,  but  left  a  promise 


FINLAND. 


for  the  morrow  in  those  silvery  gradations  of  neb- 
ulous light  which  in  northern  skies  intervene  be- 
tween his  parting  and  his  return.  The  Baltic, 
like  the  Mediterranean,  has  no  tides,  is  neither 
verv  deep  nor  very  salt,  and,  though  capable  of 
being  roused  to  passion,  is  a  better  disposed  ocean 
than  some  of  its  neighbors. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  hours  in  open  sea 
the  first  night,  our  picturesque  and  tortuous 
track  ran  between  an  archipelago  of  islands  on 
the  Finnish  coast,  many  of  which  are  bare  retl- 
granite  rocks  or  heaps  of  stones  abraded  by  un- 
ceasing waves.  The  vo}age  to  St.  Petersburg 
occupies  three  nights,  the  intervening  days  being 
pleasantly  diversified  by  halts  at  Abo,  the  old  capi- 
tal of  Finland,  and  at  Helsingfors,  the  new  capi- 
tal. The  Constantin  is  one  of  the  best  steamers 
on  the  Swedish  line  :  the  cabins  are  comfortable, 
— and  with  twenty-one  different  "appetizers"  at 
everv  meal,  what  more  could  be  desired .? 


204  NORWAY  NIGHTS. 


Our  trio  had  now  enlarged  itself  to  a  quartet, 
and  gained  the  only  element  it  lacked  by  the  atl- 
dition  of  a  young  American,  whose  personal 
characteristics  and  previous  acquaintance  with  St. 
Petersburg  completed  the  measure  of  our  enjoy- 
ment. Ladies  can  travel  alone  through  the  high- 
ways of  Russia  with  safety  and  comfort,  but  the 
"right  sort  of  man"  is  undeniably  an  acquisition. 
Our  preux  chevalier  was  the  right  sort  of  man. 
The  passengers  were  all  Swedes,  Finns,  and  Rus- 
sians— among  the  latter  a  lady,  who  was  so  con- 
genial, as  well  so  kindly  helpful  to  us  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, that  our  accidental  acquaintance  has  passed 
into  friendly  permanence. 

We  arrived  at  Abo  (pronounced  Obo)  the 
morning  after  leaving  Stockholm.  An  ancient  ca- 
thedral and  a  more  ancient  castle,  both  of  some 
historical  interest,  stand  prominently  on  the  har- 
bor ;  and  on  a  high  hill  in  the  town  is  an  obser- 
vatory well  known  to  scientists. 


FINLAND.  205 


Finland  has  always  occupied  the  undesirable 
position  of  a  small  country  between  two  large 
ones,  tossed  like  a  ball  back  and  forth,  until  it 
finally  was  grasped  by  the  talons  of  the  double- 
headed  eagle,  where  it  remains,  under  the  title  of 
Grand  Duchy.  It  retains  its  religious  and  consti- 
tutional privileges — under  bit  and  bridle,  however, 
of  imperial  representatives.  It  is  a  watery  do- 
main brimming  over  with  fiords,  lakes,  and 
swamps,  even  its  name  being  derived  fromy"^«,  or 
morass.  With  grasping  neighbors  un  either  side, 
pestilence,  fires,  and  famine  at  various  periods,  and 
deadly  quarrels  among  its  early  tribes,  it  has  had 
from  the  beginning  a  hard  struggle  for  existence. 
Since  the  transferrence  of  the  capital  to  Helsingfors 
Abo  is  a  deserted  village  :  a  few  vessels  lie  idly  in 
the  harbor  ;  one  or  two  small  hotels  wait  idly  on 
the  quay.  In  the  broad,  silent  streets,  the  houses, 
built  oi  wood,  are  only  one  story  high  and  very 
far  apart,  their   doorways  level    with  the  ground. 


2o6  NO/?J'VAV  NIGHTS. 

There  is  only  one  thing  to  be  seen — the  uncouth 
Gothic  cathedral  ;  and  unless  one  is  in  a  mood  for 
horrors  it  may  better  be  avoided,  for  in  the  crypt 
the  dead  stand  dressed  in  the  garb  of  the  living, 
as  they  do  in  the  ghastly  church  of  the  Capucines 
at  Rome  and  the  cemetery  at  Palermo. 

By  the  captain's  advice  we  decided  on  a  drive 
to  the  park  of  Runsala,  four  or  five  miles  away, 
which  w^ould  at  least  take  us  to  fresh  fields  and 
pastures  new.  The  national  "droschkies"'  are 
small,  narrow,  dingy  one-horse  vehicles  which 
possess  unlimited  capacity  for  jolt  and  rattle  ;  are 
started  at  full  gallop,  and  continued  at  as  breathless 
a  pace  as  if  pursued  by  a  pack  of  wolves.  Re- 
monstrance was  hopeless,  for  the  drivers  talked 
Finnish,  and  we  did  not  ;  and  moreover  it  is  the 
national  pace.  However,  the  park  was  reached 
without  accident ;  and  though  it  has  no  merit  of 
cultivation,  it  affords  pretty  views  and  shaded 
walks.      The  restaurant  dinner  served  on    the  ve- 


FINLAND. 


207 


randa  was  rather  eccentric  in  quality  and  condi- 
ment ;  but  on  the  whole  this  excursion  is  more 
entertaining  than  to  sit  idly  on  the  deck  while  the 
steamer  pauses  in  the  harbor. 

Helsingfors,    where   we    stopped   the  following- 
day,  has  been  a  vampire  to  Abo  and  sucked  its  verv 
life-blood^the  university,  the  population,  the  seat 
of  government.      The  approach  is  very  imposing 
from  the  sea,  for  it   is  guarded  by  the    fortress  of 
Sveaborg,  which    extends   over  seven   islands  ;  on 
the  shore  opposite  stands  a  large  and   handsome 
Russian   cathedral  with  conspicuous  white  dome 
and    gilded    spire.      The    streets   are  broad,    with 
much  parade  of  pompous  architecture  of  no  dis- 
tinctive character,  relieved  by  avenues  of  trees  and 
pleasant  walks.      As  we  had  seven  or  eight  hours 
to  while  away  on  shore,  we  first  turned  our  steps  to 
the    crowded  market  in  an  open  square,  where  a 
motley  crowd,  roughly  clothed,   bought  and  sold 
such  quantities  of  meat  and  fish   as  precluded   all 


2o8  NO/^JVAV  NIGHTS. 

ideas  of  famine  in  the  land,  apart  from  the  cart- 
loads of  coarse  black  bread  which  looked  less 
like  the  staff  of  life  than  its  cudgel. 

We  had  sometimes  wished  we  might  find  some 
locality  not  yet  penetrated  by  the  ubiquitous 
''articles  de  faiiiaisie'  of  Paris — and  we  did  find 
it  in  Norway ;  but  here  in  Finland  it  was  a  tire- 
some reminder  of  the  ever-decreasing  size  of  this 
petty  planet  to  be  offered  by  a  peasant-woman  in 
the  market  little  bottles  of  Atkinson's  perfumes  ! 
And  then  we  said,  "There  will  be  no  escape 
from  '  high  civilization '  until  we  go  to  the  fair  at 
Nijni  Novgorod."  After  a  walk  to  the  cathedral, 
and  much  admiration  of  the  fine  paintings  in  its 
gilded  Ikonostas,  we  drove  to  the  very  pretty  Bruns- 
park,  a  gay  summer  resort  with  the  usual  accom- 
paniments of  restaurant,  music,  and  open-air 
theatre.  Our  dinner  was  supplemented  by  profuse 
and  delicious  strawberries,  and  we  wandered  under 
the  trees  until  it  was  time  to  return  to  the  steamer. 


FINLAND.  209 


Then  we  conned  till  a  late  hour  our  Russian 
phrase-book,  and  mounted  the  numeral  pyramid 
from  "oden'"  to  "dvatzat, "  "tritsat,"  "sorok," 
and  "  sto,"  under  the  spur  of  to-morrow's  require- 
ments. The  numbers  and  a  few  phrases,  are  es- 
sential in  Russia,  as  elsewhere,  unless  one  is  will- 
ing to  be  buttoned  every  instant  to  a  valet  de  place. 

Even  the  guide-books  fail  to  invest  Finland 
with  sparkling  interest,  archaeological  or  historic  ; 
one  infers  that,  like  Fingal's  cave  and  many  other 
places,  it  may  be  worth  seeing,  but  is  not  worth 
going  to  see,  as  all  its  characteristics,  moral  and 
material,  are  either  semi-Swedish  or  semi-Russ. 
It  finds  favor  with  s])orting  fishermen,  and  its  cata- 
racts and  most  of  its  lakes  tempt  artists,  though  its 
trees  are  stunted  and  the  atmosphere  is  generally 
cold  and  dull.  However,  as  a  geographical  lesson 
the  southern  shore  breaks  very  pleasantly  the  sum- 
mer traversee  to  St.  Petersburg. 


RUSSIAN    DAYS. 


Russian  Church. 


RUSSIAN    DAYS. 


CHAPTER    I. 


ST.     PETERSBURG. 


T~^URING  the  past  few  years  so  many  lorg- 
* — ^  nons  and  field-glasses  have  been  levelled  at 
Russia  with  curiosity  and  criticism  ;  so  many 
native  and  foreign  writers  have  dramatically  pic- 
tured its  past,  present,  and  prospective  story,  that 
the  entire  country  is  now  supposed  to  stand  under 
the  blaze  of  electric  light,  with  two  important  ex- 
ceptions— the  plans  of  the  Nihilists  and  the  pro- 
jects of  the  Czar.  Our  innocent  Russian  days 
were  quite  undisturbed  by  these  problems  :  we 
merely   glanced    over   the   glittering    surface   like 


2  14  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

birds  briefly  perched  on  a  telegraph-wire  ;  we  were 
thorough  optimists,  and  entered  into  all  the  novel- 
ties of  sight  and  sound  with  hearty  satisfaction. 
Therefore  I  do  not  pretend  to  add  another  can- 
vas to  the  already  crowded  gallery  ;  I  merely  trace 
an  outline  and  throw  in  a  few  dashes  of  "local 
color. " 

The  approach  to  St.  Petersburg  on  a  fine  sum- 
mer morning  owes  its  exceptional  attraction  to 
art  rather  than  to  nature.  There  are  no  rugged 
shore-rocks  resonant  to  the  sea  ;  no  mountains  in 
the  distance  ;  no  verdant  hills  to  grace  the  fore- 
ground :  but  the  level  monotone  of  earth  and  sky 
is  broken  by  many  islands  and  several  fortresses 
on  either  side,  chief  of  which  latter  is  Cronstadt, 
with  walls  of  solid  granite  ten  feet  thick.  It  domi- 
nates a  forest  of  tall  masts  of  men-of-war  bearing 
flags  of  every  color,  but  principally  of  the  national 
black  and  yellow.  Then  appear  on  the  smooth- 
water  surface  dark  contrasting  masses  of  merchant- 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  215 


ships,  of  yachts  flying  before  the  wind,  of  heavily 
laden  steam-tugs  ;  and  as  our  vessel  advances,  a 
star  shines  on  the  horizon  which  grows  in  magni- 
tude, until  it  reveals  itself  as  the  great  gilded 
dome  of  the  cathedral  of  St.  Isaac.  Gradually 
the  sky  -  outline  is  broken  by  other  burnished 
domes,  by  pale  green  domes  studded  with  stars 
of  gold,  by  glittering  crosses  and  arrows  of  light, 
which  compose  the  tiara  of  the  city  of  the  Tsar. 

Yet  a  little  farther  onward,  and  massive  granite 
quays,  stately  palaces,  countless  cupolas,  lofty 
watch-towers,  and  monoliths  of  red  granite  proudly 
pose  upon  the  delta  formed  by  the  broad  silvery 
Neva  and  its  outspread  branches.  Whether  we 
will  or  not,  this  marvellous  city  which  sprung  in 
a  brief  historic  day  from  an  almost  arctic  swamp 
compels  admiration,  as  a  tour  deforce  if  nothing 
more. 

As  we  landed  at  the  quay  of  the  custom-house, 
moujiks   with  long    hair  and  russet   beards   trans- 


2l6  RUSSIAX  DAYS. 

ferred  our  luggage  to  a  crowded  platform,  where 
our  passports  were  demanded  and  our  impedi- 
menta very  thoroughly  scrutinized  by  civil  officers 
who  spoke  both  French  and  German.  As  soon 
as  it  was  decided  that  we  were  innocent  of  evil 
intent  towards  "/a  Sainte  Russie,"  we  were  con- 
ducted to  the  omnibus  of  the  Hotel  de  I'Europe, 
to  which  we  had  written  for  rooms.  We  had  a 
long  drive  through  some  of  the  finest  parts  of  the 
city,  and  a  glimpse  of  the  great  square  on  which 
stand  the  palace  of  the  Admiralty,  the  Winter 
Palace,  St.  Isaac's  Cathedral,  and  the  colossal 
bronze  statue  of  Peter  the  Great,  before  we  turned 
into  the  celebrated  Nevski  Prospekt,  and  thence 
came  by  a  few  steps  to  our  hotel. 

We  found  excellent  quarters  in  readiness  for  us  ; 
but  the  courteous  manager,  in  pursuance  of  the 
usual  Russian  fashion  of  offering  a  large  choice 
of  rooms,  pioneered  us  over  miles  of  corridors  ;  for 
this    Gostinnitza,    like    the     Hotel    du    Louvre    in 


S7\    PETEk\SEL'RG.  217 


Paris,  covers  an  enormous  space.  We  decided 
on  the  luxurious  suite  he  had  assigned  us,  and 
settled  down  to  domesticity  under  the  patronage 
of  the  saints  whose  images  appear  unobtrusively 
on  the  walls  of  every  Russian  room.  Like  the 
gods  of  ancient  Greece,  the  pictured  saints  are 
more  numerous  than  the  people  ;  no  cook  would 
remain  an  hour  in  a  house  where  there  was  not 
one  in  the  kitchen.  The  servants  who  attended 
us,  however,  were  Germans  :  and  there  are  at 
least  two  English  vale/s  de  place,  one  of  whom, 
named  Alexander,  we  can  especially  commend. 
We  expected  to  find  Russian  vapor-baths  in  per- 
fection, but  were  assured  that  they  are  by  no 
means  so  well  appointed  as  in  Paris  or  New  York, 
at  least  for  ladies. 

After  our  luncheon,  in  which  strawberries, 
melons,  and  tchai  slamonum — tea  with  thin  slices  of 
lemon — pleasandy  figured,  we  started  with  the 
eagerness  of  children  for  that  first  general  orienta- 


2l8 


RUSS/AX  DAYS. 


tion  which  defines  the  chaos  of  a  new  city.      We 
noticed  at  once  the  dress  of  the  coachmen,  which 


Russian    Coachman. 

consists  of  a  dark-blue  woollen  caftan  that  extends 
to  the  feet ;  it  is  plain  over  the  shoulders,  and 
crosses  from  right  to  left  with  large  filigree  silver 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  219 

buttons,  and  five  more  on  the  left  side  behind  ; 
the  skirt  falls  in  full  plaits,  especially  at  the  back, 
and  a  belt  somewhat  like  the  border  of  a  cashmere 
shawl  passes  round  the  waist.  A  flat  cloth  cap, 
lari^er  above  than  below,  and  high  boots  over  the 
trousers,  which  are  not  visible,  complete  the  cos- 
tume. The  drivers  hold  one  rein  in  each  hand, 
and  guide  the  horses  by  the  voice  rather  than  the 
whip. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  one  in  St.  Peters- 
burg is  the  prodigality  of  space  and  gigantic 
dimensions  of  the  streets,  which  give  to  even  four- 
storied  houses  an  appearance  of  being  built  low. 
The  right  angles  are  as  rigid  as  the  squares  of  a 
chess-board  ;  there  are  no  narrow,  crooked  lanes 
as  in  other  European  cities.  The  pavements  are 
generally  bad,  owing  to  the  marshy  subsoil  ;  but 
this  is  less  important,  because  half  the  year  they 
are  excellently  paved  with  snow.  The  great  01 
Bolshaya  Neva  River  passes   through   the  centre, 


2  20  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


and  with  its  branch  the  Httle  or  Malaya  Neva  forms 
islands,  on  which  other  portions  are  built.  Two 
hundred  years  ago  this  river  was  unknown  except 
to  Finnish  huntsmen  in  the  untrodden  forests 
through  which  it  flows  from  Lake  Onega  to  the 
bay  of  Finland.  It  is  as  broad  as  the  Rhine  at 
Cologne;  its  clear,  blue  waters  are  not  only  a 
beautiful  feature,  but  they  supply  the  wants  of  the 
city.  At  the  same  time  they  are  a  perpetual 
menace,  for,  though  guarded  by  massive  granite 
embankments,  they  are  only  two  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  streets  ;  and  when  in  the  spring  the 
north  wind  blows  a  gale,  from  the  narrow  part  of 
the  bay  the  waters  of  the  Neva  are  forced  back, 
and,  if  the  ice  happens  to  be  breaking  up  at  the 
same  time,  inundations  are  inevitable.  There- 
fore, when  warning  guns  are  heard  from  the  fort- 
ress, those  who  live  in  cellars  and  basements  look 
for  safe  shelter,  and  sentries  in  their  boxes  are 
provided  for.      Numerous  handsome  bridges  span 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  221 

the  waters,  which  are  animated  by  fleets  of  row- 
buats,  yachts,  and  commercial  vessels.  In  winter 
these  liquid  roads  are  solidly  frozen,  and  sledges 
supplant  the  sails. 

Previous  to  our  journey  hither  many  sugges- 
tions had  been  offered  that  winter  is  par  excel- 
lence the  time  to  visit  this  hyperborean  capital ; 
but  the  fact  is  that,  like  the  duplicate  shield  which 
was  gold  on  one  side  and  silver  on  the  other,  St. 
Petersburg  has  two  totally  different  aspects. 
Most  alluring  we  found  it  in  summer,  with  its 
verdant  parks,  blue  waters,  green  and  golden 
domes,  and  soft,  diaphanous  nights ;  and  with 
such  generosity  of  space  and  air  that  in  even  the 
warmth  of  July  one  is  not  oppressed  as  in  other 
cities.  We  drove  up  and  down  the  Nevski  Pros- 
pekt,  which  corresponds  as  an  artery  of  fashiona- 
ble commerce  with  the  Alcala  in  Madrid,  Rue  de 
Rivoli  in  Paris,  and  Regent's  Street  in  London, 
but  is  a  melange  of  shops,    palaces,   monuments, 


2  22  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

and  churches  far  more  imposing  than  either. 
The  architecture  is  not  distinctive  in  any  part 
of  the  city.  Neither  Peter  the  Great  nor  his 
successors  could  create  a  new  structural  art  : 
they  united  classic  and  Renaissance  forms  with 
Byzantine  domes  and  decorations.  Critics  have 
called  it  a  city  of  architectural  shams,  and  com- 
plain that  porticos  and  pillars  are  of  plaster- 
covered  brick,  fafades  are  flat,  and  balconies 
inconsistent  with  an  arctic  climate.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  nowhere  else  are  found  such 
superb  or  abundant  monoliths  as  those  of  the 
Finland  red  granite,  which  give  color  and  maj- 
esty to  churches  and  palaces.  The  one  erected 
to  Alexander  I.  near  the  Winter  Palace  is  con- 
sidered the  greatest  of  modern  times — a  single 
shaft  eighty-four  feet  high,  beautifully  polished, 
surmounted  by  a  gilded  angel  bearing  a  cross  ; 
the  base  and  pedestal,  twenty-five  feet  high,  of  the 
same  material. 


Sr.    PETERSBCRd.  223 


The  houses  are  built  in  apartments  which  ap- 
parently consist  of  a  series  of  salons,  as  they  are 
furnished  with  luxurious  couches  converted  into 
beds  at  night.  The  ladies'  dresses  are  kept 
folded  in  the  boxes  in  which  they  come  from 
Paris,  and  other  accessories  of  the  toilet  are 
removed  from  sight ;  so  that  the  salons  are  al- 
ways en  grande  fetuie,  and  the  restful  privacy  of  a 
prettv  sleeping-room,  so  dear  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
heart,  is  an  unappreciated  luxury. 

Many  of  the  shops  are  i)ainted  on  the  outside 
with  representations  of  their  wares  :  vividly- 
colored  fruits  and  vegetables,  bunches  of  grapes 
and  flasks  of  wine,  pianos,  ladies'  cloaks  sur- 
mounted by  hats,  and  many  other  tem})tations 
appeal  to  those  who  are  unable  to  read.  De- 
cidedly, we  were  of  that  illiterate  class.  We 
had  pored  over  those  perplexing  letters  until  we 
could  pronounce  the  words  with  tolerable  cor- 
rectness :  but  it  was  another  thing  to  translate  them. 


2  24  /^i' SSI  AN  DAYS. 

At  first  sight  the  signs  suggest  an  alphabetical 
cyclone ;  but  their  large  ornate  characters  at  a 
little  distance  look  like  a  sculptured  frieze  of  gold 
on  ground  of  red  or  blue. 

It  was  not  the  season  for  parade  of  equipages, 
and  we  saw  none  that  were  distinctive.  The  un- 
comfortable but  convenient  little  droschkies  flew 
about  in  swarms,  for  there  are  few  pedestrians  in 
this  city  of  magnificent  distances.  Here  and  there 
were  Cossack  soldiers  in  long  blue  coats  or 
caftans  and  high  white,  red,  or  blue  caps  edged 
with  sheepskin,  and  armed  with  swords,  poniards, 
pistols,  and  rifles  ;  and  everywhere  moujiks,  in  red 
or  blue  shirts,  belted  round  the  waist,  extending 
below  the  short  loose  jacket,  and  loose  trousers 
thrust  into  big  boots.  Apropos  is  a  story,  .V6^ 
71071  VC7-0,  he7i  //-ovafu,  cited  in  recent  journals,  of 
a  reply  made  by  Bismarck  to  Lord  Dufi"erin,  who 
had  asked  his  opinion  of  the  Russian  character  : 
"  ]My    dear    lord,    the     Russian     is    a   very   good 


Sr.    PETERSBURG. 


225 


fellow  until  he  tucks  in  his  shirt" — a  caustic  com- 
ment quite  characteristic  of  the  Premier. 


Cossack  Officer. 


I  should  put  in  a  deferential  protest  against   his 
sweeping    criticism :    the     Russians    who     diffuse 


2  26  /erssA-ix  DA  vs. 


themselves  through  various  countries  have  the 
reputation  of  being  very  charming  people — viva- 
cious, friendly,  hospitable,  highly  intelligent  and 
accomplished,  and  some,  of  my  own  intimate  ac- 
quaintance, are  as  true-hearted  and  good  as  the 
world  affords. 

THE    SHOPS. 

We  noticed  many  little  stalls  for  the  sale  of 
pictured  saints,  holy  oil  and  water  ;  boxes  for 
sacred  offerings  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  on 
bridges,  at  the  exits  of  markets;  and  reverent  cross- 
ings and  prostrations  before  frequent  shrines  of 
prayer.  In  all  this  was  a  touch  of  the  Orient  : 
but  we  were  not  yet  beyond  the  intrusion  of 
French  signs  and  German  merchandise.  The 
road  that  leads  beyond  these  too-familiar  objects 
is  far  away  from  St.  Petersburg.  But  we  did 
visit  shops  which  every  feminine  heart  would 
appreciate  ;  one  of  Russian  embroidered  costumes, 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  227 


towels  and  table-cloths,  and  also  the  exquisitely  fine 
white  goat's-wool  shawls  from  Orenburg,  made  by 
hand  from  threads  of  fairy  texture.  The  finest  of 
these  shawls  requires  the  work  of  two  women  for 
two  years  ;  it  was  more  gossamer  than  the  finest 
thread  lace,  a  mere  mist  from  a  summer  cloud, 
and  correspondingly  fragile.  One  of  the  largest 
size,  three  yards  square,  we  saw  drawn  through  a 
finger-ring,  and  the  fair  owner  intended  to  wear  it 
at  her  wedding  instead  of  the  conventional  tulle 
or  Brussels  lace.  A  similar  shawl  was  presented 
to  Patti  on  her  last  visit  to  Russia,  and  she  wore 
it  over  a  white-satin  tunic.  Even  the  inferior 
qualities  that  cost  only  eight  or  ten  rubles  are  as 
soft  as  down. 

Another  specialty  is  the  silver-work,  which  far 
exceeds  in  beauty,  as  well  as  in  weight,  that  of 
other  countries.  The  fabric  of  enamelled  gold  and 
silver  gilt  is  beautiful  enough  to  justify  a  com- 
pound fracture  of  the  tenth  commandment  :  it  is 


2  28  /^ CSS/AX  DA  VS. 


covered  with  the  very  finest  enamel  of  various  col- 
ors, principally  light  blue  and  ruby,  laid  on  with 
twisted  threads  of  gold  that  would  pass  through 
a  needle's  eye.  Jewel-caskets,  toilet  articles, 
sugar-bowls,  spoons,  etc.,  fill  one  shop  exclusive- 
ly. This  fine  enamel  is  rather  new,  and  therefore 
little  known  outside  of  Russia  ;  but  even  the  older 
fabric  on  silver  gilt  is  also  beautiful,  though  not 
quite  so  delicate.  The  best  shop  is  that  of  Ivan 
Petrovitch  Chlebnekoff",  on  the  Nevski  Pros- 
pekt. 

The  fur-shops  are  ruinously  attractive,  espe- 
cially the  sable,  which  we  had  never  seen  so  fine 
and  dark.  The  London  merchants  declare  that 
the}'  procure  some  of  the  very  best  qualities  ;  but 
the  ]\Ioscow  dealers  assured  us  that  they  never  sell 
those  outside  of  Russia.  Sables  are  always  expen- 
sive because  so  small  a  portion  of  the  little  animal 
is  of  the  coveted  dark  color.  The  famous  Potem- 
kin  had   a  muff"  which   cost  a   thousand  guineas. 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  229 


Ordinary  furs  may  be  bought  more  reasonably 
here  than  elsewhere. 

There  are  several  shops  of  Circassian  embroi- 
deries, but  we  were  advised  to  buy  those  in  Mos- 
cow. As  there  are  no  Leghorn  hats  made  in  Leg- 
horn, and  no  Venetian  blinds  in  Venice,  so  there 
IS  no  Russian  leather  in  Russia;  the  raw  material 
being  exported  to  Germany,  where  it  is  manu- 
factured into  the  universal  pocket-books  and  port- 
folios. There  is  a  great  two-storied  bazaar,  the 
Gostinnoi  Dvor,  which  is  stocked  with  all  possi- 
ble articles  for  household  use  and  old  bric-a-brac 
shops,  but  very  little  that  a  traveller  would  desire 
except  the  Circassian  and  Caucasian  shawls  antl 
sashes,  better  obtained  in  ^Moscow.  It  is,  how- 
ever, all  worth  a  visit  of  curiosity. 

A  few  pounds  of  the  best  tea  is  a  desirable  pur- 
chase; for,  as  it  is  brought  overland  through  Siberia, 
the  flavor  is  much  more  delicate  than  that  which 
comes  bv  sea.     The  yellow  and  the  white,  made 


230  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


from  the  first  tiny  buds  of  the  plant,  form  a  nerve- 
exciting  beverage  which  should  rarely  be  indulged 
in.  It  costs  from  four  or  five  rubles  to  fifty  a 
})ound  (a  ruble  being  generally  equivalent  to  sev- 
enty-five cents  or  three  shillings  sterling,  but  in 
the  present  state  of  Russian  funds  a  third  less). 
Tchai  slamomnn  is  made  from  an  inferior  quality 
of  leaf;  but  we  found  it  very  palatable — a  harmless 
beverage,  as  universal  as  beer  in  Germany  and  vin 
ordinaire  in  P^ ranee. 

THE    CATHEDRAL. 

The  world- renowned  Cathedral  of  St.  Isaac's 
stands  conspicuously  in  a  large  open  square,  sur- 
rounded by  several  of  the  finest  edifices  and  mon- 
uments in  the  city.  A  few  words  will  recall  the 
many  descriptions  given  of  it  by  clever  writers.  It 
'is  a  Greek  cross  in  form;  the  four  ends  are  ter- 
minated by  porticos  which  are  reached  by  flights 
of  red-granite  steps  ;  above  these  stand  stately  pol- 


S7\    PETERSBURG, 


231 


ished  columns  of  the  same  material,  sixty  feet 
high  and  seven  in  diameter,  with  bronze  Corin- 
thian capitals.  They  support  a  massive  frieze 
from  which  rises  the  dome  of  bronze  overlaid  with 
burnished  gold,  also  supported  by  a  circle  of  granite 


^il^ 


The  Neva — The  Bridge — St.  Isaac's. 


pillars.  From  the  centre,  again,  rises  the  rotunda, 
or  lantern,  a  miniature  repetition  of  the  whole 
edifice,  surmounted  by  a  golden  cross.  Four 
smaller  domes  stand  above  each  end  of  the  arms 
of  the  cross   and   complete   the   harmony.      Each 


2^2  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


flight  of  Steps  as  well  as  each  column  is  formed  of 
a  single  block  of  granite  :  all  of  them,  as  well  as 
hundreds  more  in  other  churches  and  palaces,  were 
conveyed  from  Finland  on  rollers,  their  weight 
being  too  great  for  wheels.  The  Tsars  are  as 
rich  as  were  the  Pharaohs  in  unlimited  quarries 
of  marble. 

Ponderous  sculptured  bronze  doors  lead  to  the 
interior,  where  floor,  walls,  and  supporting  pillars 
are  of  polished  marbles,  verde  antique,  Sienna  yel- 
low, porphyry,  and  jasper.  Gilded  angels  of  vari- 
ous sizes,  pictures  of  Christ,  the  Virgin,  and  saints, 
ensconced  in  gilding  and  jewelled  mosaics,  gleam 
through  a  mystic  twilight.  Sculptures  are  for- 
bidden by  the  Greek  Church,  but  the  command 
against  graven  images  is  not  supposed  to  extend 
to  flat  surfaces  or  bas-reliefs.  The  choir  is  raised 
a  few  feet  above  the  nave,  and  separated  from  it 
by  a  balustrade  of  exquisite  marbles.  The  gold 
Ikonostas,  or  screen,  shuts  off"  the  "holy  of  ho- 


^7;    PETERSBURG.  233 

lies"  by  two  massive  silver  doors  ;  in  it  are  eight 
colossal  pillars,  six  of  malachite  and  two  of  lapis 
lazuli — not  solid,  however,  but  laid  on  iron,  as  no 
such  solid  blocks  exist  in  these  materials.  Be- 
tween these  pillars  in  the  gilded  screen  are  inserted 
mosaic  pictures  of  saints.  Many  other  beautiful 
pictures  adorn  the  walls,  all  by  Russian  artists, 
and  one  exquisitely  fine  mosaic,  representing  a 
head  of  the  Saviour,  is  studded  with  diamonds, 
the  largest  of  which  cost  seven  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  In  fact,  every  available  point  is  filled 
with  mosaics  or  paintings — around  the  domes,  the 
brackets  for  candles,  as  v.'ell  as  the  walls. 

In  connection  with  them  I  will  relate  an  anec- 
dote hitherto  unknown.  A  celebrated  artist,  presi- 
dent of  one  of  the  highest  art-academies  in  Italy, 
was  engaged  to  paint  six  pictures  that  now  orna- 
ment the  vault  of  one  of  the  cupolas.  One  of  the 
subjects  selected  was  the  Annunciation,  and  was 
enlivened  by  the  presence  of  a  host  of  little  angels 


234  J^USSIAA  DAYS. 

who  floated  in  the  upper  air  in  the  innocence  of 
their  conventional  nudity.  When  the  synod  of 
priests  visited  the  artist's  studio  to  inspect  the 
finished  work,  they  admired  everything  except  the 
undress  of  the  infants,  which  they  declared  inad- 
missible. The  artist  protested,  but  in  vain  :  the 
angels  must  conform  to  the  regulations  of  relig- 
ious art  or  be  excommunicated.  Accordingly,  on 
the  next  visit  of  the  synod  they  appeared  in  full 
celestial  millinery,  with  broad  blue  ribbons  and 
shreds  of  vapory  costume.  The  work  was  pro- 
nounced satisfactory  ;  the  pictures  were  hung  un- 
der the  supervision  of  the  artist,  but  before  he 
left  the  church  they  had  lost  their  worldly  tissues 
and  circulated  again  unencumbered  around  their 
invisible  trapeze.  He  had  painted  their  draperies 
in  gouache,  but,  to  carry  out  his  own  just  ideas, 
he  washed  them  off  before  elevating  the  pictures 
to  the  vaulted  dome  ;  and  the  then  distant  critics 
were  never  the  wiser  ! 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  235 


This  superb  church  may  well  be  considered  the 
supreme  effort  of  modern  architecture  ;  unlike  all 
other  great  cathedrals,  which  were  the  crystalliza- 
tion of  centuries,  it  was  the  work  of  only  forty 
years,  under  command  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas, 
who  did  more  than  all  his  predecessors  to  beau- 
tify his  capital.  In  order  to  secure  the  safety  of 
the  foundation,  forests  of  piles  were  driven  into 
the  marshy  ground  on  which  it  stands,  followed 
by  great  blocks  of  granite  :  and  yet  it  gradually 
sinks. 

Through  the  kindness  of  the  lady  whose  ac- 
quaintance we  made  on  the  Constajitin,  we  ob- 
tained privileged  places  within  the  choir,  one  Sun- 
day morning,  during  an  important  ceremonial. 
The  superb  terme  of  the  priests,  the  marvellous 
singing  and  the  devoutness  of  the  worshippers, 
made  a  profound  impression  on  us  all  ;  but  I  may 
better  attempt  to  describe  a  similar  and  more  elab- 
orate service  in   the   Kazan   cathedral,    where  also 


J?USS/.4.V  DAYS. 


our  friend  conducted  us.  This  edifice,  also  sup- 
ported on  piles,  is  built  in  imitation  of  St.  Peter's 
at  Rome,  with  exterior  colonnades  like  embracing 
arms.  The  interior  is  sumptuous,  though  less  so 
than  St.  Isaac's,  and  the  rich  surfaces  are  broken 
by  flag-draped  monuments  and  the  keys  of  many 
fortresses  hanging  on  the  walls.  Among  the 
tombs  is  that  of  General  Kutusof,  erected  on  the 
spot  where  he  knelt  in  prayer  before  setting  out 
to  meet  Napoleon  in  1812. 

The  service  that  we  attended  there  was  con- 
ducted by  the  metropolitan  bishop,  one  of  the 
triad  of  bishops  in  the  empire.  Long  before  the 
hour,  the  vast  interior  was  filled  with  a  standing  or 
kneeling  crowd— for  no  seats  are  permitted  in  Rus- 
sian churches,  except  by  special  favor  at  some  un- 
obtrusive point  ;  nor  is  the  use  of  fans  allowed. 
Preceded  by  IMiss  M.,  we  took  our  places  in  the 
choir,  and  chairs  were  provided  for  us  only  a  few 
feet   from  the   doors   of  the  Ikonostas  ;    thus   we 


S7\    PETERSBURG.  237 


had  a  full  view  of  the  entire  scene.  Each  person 
on  entering  brought  a  taper  and  slowly  ap- 
proached a  shrine  ;  then  he  knelt,  bowed  his  head 
to  the  marble  pavement,  and  crossed  himself  re- 
peatedly ;  he  lighted  his  candle,  and  set  it  u})  in 
one  of  the  large  silver  stands  provided  for  tliat 
purpose.  Again  kneeling,  he  touched  his  head  to 
the  pavement  and  retired  with  face  towards  the 
altar,  continuing  his  prostrations  and  crosses  dur- 
ing the  entire  service.  There  are  no  inquisitive 
gazings  around,  and  no  beggars  pausing  in  their 
prayers  to  ask  alms  ;  but  a  fixed  earnestness  that 
evidently  proceeds  from  deep  religious  feeling. 
Meanwhile  the  choristers,  in  white  surplices  with 
light-blue  collars  and  cuffs,  took  their  places  on 
each  side  of  the  Ikonostas  :  on  this  (occasion  the 
choirs  of  two  cathedrals  were  engaged.  Instru- 
mental music  is  fi)rbidden  in  the  Greek  Church, 
but  the  old  hymns  are  most  wonderful  ;  many  of 
them  were  brought  long  ago  from   Rome,  but  are 


2;^S  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


now  forgotten  there.  I'hrough  the  open  doors  of 
the  Ikonostas  we  saw  the  altar  blazing  with  light  ; 
the  priests,  archimandrites,  and  deacons,  twenty- 
four  in  all,  in  dazzling  vestments  of  cloth  of  gold 
reaching  to  the  feet,  with  chains  and  suspended 
crosses,  far  more  graceful  than  those  of  Catholic 
priests,  and  more  beautiful  in  quality.  The  dig- 
nity of  the  wearers  is  enhanced  by  their  long, 
flowing,  ringleted  hair,  parted  in  the  middle  of  the 
forehead  ;  and  with  their  patriarchal  beards  anil 
refined  Eastern  features  they  might  serve  as  mod- 
els for  prophets  and  apostles.  The  Titianesque 
reddish-gold  hair  of  some  of  them  accorded  well 
with  the  vestments.  Some  of  the  robes  were  dec- 
orated with  jewels,  especially  the  silver  robe  of  the 
bishop,  who  also  wore  "a  high-crowned  jewelled 
cap  with  a  gold  cross  above  it.  He  was  a  little 
old  man,  feeble  with  the  weight  of  eighty-two 
\ears,  and  required  assistants  on  either  side  when 
he  atlvanced  to  the  e(\y^Q  of  the  dais   and   returned 


S7\    Pr^:TERSBURG.  239 


many  times  to  the  altar,  while  he  read  aloud, 
prayed,  knelt,  and  crossed  himself,  and  again  with 
a  lighted  symbolic  candle  in  either  hand  blessed 
the  kneeling  people. 

The  solos  of  the  Litany  were  intoned  by  a  dea- 
con whose  basso  pro/undo  of  incredible  power 
resounded  like  the  notes  of  a  great  organ  to  the 
remotest  end  and  all  through  the  domes  of  the 
vast  building.  These  voices  are  peculiar  to  Rus- 
sia ;  they  are  sought  for  through  distant  })rovinces, 
and  receive  large  remuneration.  A  very  earnest 
and  frequent  refrain  is  ' '  Gospodimi  potnilui " 
("Lord,  have  mercy  on  us'"),  in  which  choristers 
join,  and  prolong  the  last  syllable  like  the  sigh  of 
an  yEolian  harp.  The  most  solemn  moment  of  all 
was  when  the  priests,  archimandrites,  and  deacons 
all  retired  within  the  sanctuary,  the  portals  silently 
closed,  and  the  people  knelt  during  the  transub- 
stantiation  ;  then  the  doors  were  thrown  open, 
and  the  whole  hierarchy,  in  their  superb  vestments, 


2  40  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

''gold  in  sunlight  against  gold  in  shadow,"  walked 
forth  to  the  chanting  and  singing  of  the  most 
perfect  church-music  I  have  ever  heard  ;  deep  as 
thunder,  yet  most  harmonious  in  tone,  the  bass 
rose  and  poised  on  waves  of  grand  crescendo, 
around  which  floated  and  fell  the  soft  silvery  ca- 
dence of  the  sopranos  and  intermediate  parts. 

It  is  to  the  honor  of  the  Greek  Church  that  it 
has  never  been  intolerant  of  other  creeds,  and  al- 
lows public  worship  in  every  form.  It  has  been 
said  that  "Toleration"  Street  would  be  an  appro- 
priate title  for  the  Nevski  Prospekt  from  the  num- 
ber of  churches  of  various  persuasions  it  contains. 

PALACES    AND    MUSEUMS. 

One  of  the  most  pleasant  things  to  do  in  St. 
Petersburg  is  to  visit  the  palace  of  Tsarskoe-Selo, 
a  stately  pleasure-dome  decreed  by  Catherine  the 
Great.  We  went  by  rail  fifteen  miles  out  to  a 
village  adjoining  the  park,  where  we  obtained  tick- 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  24I 


ets  of  admission,  and  thence  a  carriage  conveyed  us 
through  the  extensive  grounds  to  the  palace.  The 
facade  is  elaborately  adorned  with  statues,  carv- 
ings, and  vases,  which,  with  the  pedestals  and  capi- 
tals of  the  columns,  were  originally  covered  with 
gold.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  rigors  of 
winter  made  serious  havoc  with  this  decoration, 
and  Murray  sa}s  that  the  persons  who  repaired 
it  offered  the  Empress  fifty  thousand  pounds 
sterling  for  the  fragments  of  gold-leaf,  to  which 
she  disdainfully  replied,  '' Je  ne  suis  pas  dans 
r usage  de  vendre  mes  vieiUes  hardes. ''  There  are 
no  traces  of  this  lavish  ornamentation  left  except 
on  the  cupolas  of  the  chapel,  the  interior  of  which 
is  painted  in  bright  blue  and  gold,  displeasing  to 
the  eye.  But  the  ingenuity  of  even  that  reckless 
age  was  taxed  to  the  utmost  in  the  long  succes- 
sion of  salons,  all  arranged  as  if  for  an  immediate 
court  pageant.  Gold  (not  gilded)  ceilings,  silk- 
huno:    walls,    floors    of   costliest    inlaid  woods    in 


242  RUSSIAiV  DAYS. 


graceful  designs — -one  of  polished  ebony  inlaid 
with  figures  of  mother-of-pearl,  and  walls  incrusted 
with  lapis  lazuli  ;  a  Chinese  room  of  choicest 
Celestial  furniture  :  a  banqueting-room  w-ith  a  dado 
nine  feet  high  covered  with  plates  of  gold  ;  the 
walls  of  the  chamber  of  Catherine  the  Great  laid 
in  fine  porcelain  tiles,  and  supported  by  pilasters  of 
blue  glass,  with  priceless  rock-crystal  chandeliers, 
articles  o['  vertu.  tables  and  tazzas  of  malachite  and 
lapis  lazuli,  so  profuse  as  to  defy  memory  and  re- 
cital. There  are  two  ball-rooms,  in  each  of  which 
is  a  collection  (^f  the  rarest  porcelain  vases  placed 
in  circular  tiers  which  extend  from  floor  to  ceiling; 
the  letter  E,  fi^r  Ekaterina,  inscribed  on  each  vase. 
The  gem  of  all  is  the  Amber  Room.  Its  lofty 
walls  are  entirely  covered  with  that  exquisite 
material  in  architectural  designs  ;  some  of  them 
represent  the  arms  of  Catherine  united  with  those 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  by  whom  the  amber  was 
presented  :    amber  groups  of  figures  rest  upon  an 


ST.    PHTERSIiURG.  243 


amber  ground.  Shreds  of  amber  in  beads  and 
pipes  convey  no  idea  of  the  soft  gleams  of  mellow 
light  in  this  poetic  room,  which  but  for  the  realism 
of  some  of  the  designs  would  seem  to  have  been 
stolen  from  a  supernatural  realm.  It  was  the 
most  unique  object  we  saw  in  Russia.  Even  the 
chairs  were  of  amber,  with  seats  of  pale-yellow 
brocade  ;  and  a  set  of  amber  chessmen  stood  on 
an  amber  field. 

We  were  interested  in  the  full-length  portraits 
of  the  Romanoffs,  all  indicative  of  their  character- 
istics. The  portraits  of  Alexander  I.  and  Alex- 
ander II.  are  particularly  pleasing  :  their  com- 
manding figures  and  fine  faces  express  the  best 
qualities  of  the  dynasty,  without  its  faults.  The 
artist  who  depicted  the  sensuous  beauty  of  the  in- 
tellectual, arrogant,  unscrupulous  Catherine  II., 
who  was  not  a  Romanoff,  took  good  care  to  put 
her  evil  traits  in  the  background. 

The     splendor    of    the    state    apartments    finds 


244  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


antithesis  in  the  small,  almost  monastic  rooms  of 
that  excellent  monarch  Alexander  I.,  which  are 
sacredly  preserved  precisely  as  he  left  them  for 
a  tour  to  his  southern  provinces,  where  death  put 
an  end  to  his  beneficent  reign.  In  one  corner  is  a 
camp  bedstead,  on  a  table  a  few  modest  toilet 
appurtenances,  a  hand-mirror  in  a  green  morcKCo 
frame,  brushes  and  comb  of  the  simplest  sort, 
an  ordinary  pocket-handkerchief,  a  worn  and 
faded  uniform.  Very  unostentatious  also  are  the 
living-rooms  in  a  small  palace  built  for  him  in 
his  youth,  but  occasionally  occupied  by  the  pres- 
ent imperial  family.  The  high  and  mighty  person- 
ages whose  frequent  fate  it  is 

"to  be  perked  up  in  a  glistening  grief 
And  wear  a  golden  sorrow" 

are  often  pleased  to  relax  their  pose  and  become 
simple  ladies  and  gentlemen. 

In  this  palace  there  is  little  furniture  or  decora- 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  245 


tion  of  intrinsic  value,  and  even  trifles  that  would 
be  banished  from  ordinary  drawing-rooms  as  in- 
significant. But  there  are  children's  toys,  photo- 
graphs, and  portraits — not  for  show,  but  for  famil\' 
love ;  and  in  a  large  hall  is  a  high  inclined  plane 
of  polished  wood  for  the  children  to  play  at  ''to- 
bogganing ■'  within  doors.  The  Emperor's  writ- 
ing-table was  like  that  of  a  man  of  business.  In 
glass  cases  around  one  of  the  rooms  are  models 
of  cavalry  regiments,  beautifully  executed  for  the 
Emperor  Nicholas,  and  many  paintings  of  military 
manoeuvres. 

A  fusillade  of  rain  prevented  us  from  any  ex- 
tended walk  or  drive  through  the  stately  pleas- 
aunce  in  summer  green,  where  are  several  charm- 
ing caprices,  such  as  a  Chinese  village,  a  Dutch 
cow-house,  artificial  ruins,  a  fountain  after  Greuze's 
picture  of  "La  Cruche  cassee,"  and  many  others. 

The  Arsenal  of  Tsarskoe-Selo  is  a  superb  col- 
lection of  armor  and   antique  standards  amassed 


246  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

by  many  sovereigns  ;  prominent  among  them  are 
two  dazzling  saddles,  every  part  of  which,  together 
with  the  bridles,  are  covered  with  brilliants. 

Thence  we  drove  to  the  village  of  Pavolsk, 
where  there  is  another  palace,  and  all  sorts  of 
picturesque  adjuncts  which  approaching  twilight 
prevented  us  from  seeing. 

We  dined  at  a  fashionable  restaurant  there,  to 
the  music  of  an  excellent  orchestra.  We  were 
anxious  to  hear  the  National  Hymn  on  its  native 
heath,  but  never  had  an  opportunity,  because  it 
is  played  only  on  special  occasions  and  involves 
the  ceremony  of  the  whole  audience  standing 
through  the  performance.  One  of  the  dishes  at 
our  dinner  was  a  good  cabbage-soup,  called  stchi, 
served  with  sour  cream  ;  another  was  rasiigae,  pat- 
ties of  the  isinglass  and  flesh  of  sturgeon  ;  also  a 
very  delicate  "sweet," — something  between  jelly 
and  ice. 

Whence    the    far-famed     Hermitage    derives    its 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  247 


name  one  fails  to  perceive  on  the  face  of  it,  for 
it  is  neither  remote  nor  secluded  ;  as  well  might 
the  Louvre  be  called  a  monastic  cell.  Ikit  the 
versatile  Catherine  built  the  original  as  a  retreat 
from  state  cares  in  the  society  of  literati  and  ar- 
tists, and  the  modern  edifice,  finished  fortv  years 
ago,  preserves  the  inappropriate  name. 

Xo  museum  in  Europe  is  so  beautiful  or  so 
costly.  A  \ery  gorgeous  lackey-  received  our  cards 
at  the  entrance,  and  two  others,  equally  bedizened, 
stood  at  the  foot  of  the  stately  flight  of  marble 
step.s.  Sixteen  red-granite  monoliths  and  ten 
giants  of  gray  granite  support  the  vestibule,  and 
numerous  statues  of  artists  fill  niches  in  the 
walls.  At  the  head  of  the  three  flights  which 
compose  the  stairway  are  two  magnificent  can- 
delabra stands  of  violet  jasper  from  Siberia.  The 
decorations  of  galleries  and  corridors  only  faintly 
indicate  the  wealth  of  the  empire  in  marbles,  mal- 
achite,   lapis  lazuli,  crystals,  precious  stones,    and 


248  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

gold.  The  pictures  in  the  gallery  are  set  off  by 
crimson-silk  hangings  on  the  walls  ;  the  floors,  of 
polished  wood-mosaic,  are  uniform  in  color,  with- 
uut  lights  and  shades,  and  therefore  not  intrusive 
on  the  paintings.  Rich  crimson -silk -covered 
chairs  and  sofas  offer  rest,  and  vases  and  tazzas  of 
jasper  and  onyx  stand  upon  tables  of  pink  por- 
phyry and  malachite.  There  are  fifteen  hundred 
pictures,  beautifully  arranged  and  well  lighted. 
The  Spanish  collection  seemed  to  me  the  best  out . 
of  Spain  ;  but  while  rich  in  specimens  of  ]Murillo, 
it  fails  to  rival  the  jMadrid  gallery  in  Velasquez 
portraits.  There  are  several  Raphaels,  Titians, 
and  Tintorettos,  but  not  the  masterpieces  of  those 
painters,  and  on  the  whole  the  Italian  school  does 
not  compare  with  that  in  Florence.  The  French 
pictures  are  numerous  and  beautiful,  but  the 
Flemish  and  Dutch  collection  is  the  finest  of  all. 

However,  my  opinion,  rapidly  formed,  is  offered 
as  that  of  an  amateur,  not  a  critic  ;  for  weeks  of 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  249 


Study  would  be  required  to  know  thoroughly 
these  treasures,  to  which  all  the  most  celebrated 
painters  in  Europe  have  contributed.  The  room 
of  Russian  pictures  is  very  interesting,  because 
national  in  design,  and  novel  in  subject  :  the  ar- 
tists receive  much  encouragement  from  the  gov- 
ernment, and  when  they  indicate  talent  are  sent 
off  with  pensions  to  study  in  Paris  and  Rome.  It 
was  unfortunate  for  us  that  several  private  gal- 
leries were  closed  for  the  summer,  especially  in 
]\Ioscow,  and  we  thus  missed  seeing  some  of  the 
most  celebrated  Russian  creations. 

The  numismatic  collection,  which  is  extremely 
rich  and  valuable,  contains  rare  coins  from  Greece 
and  from  all  the  ancient  provinces  of  Russia, 
many  of  them  earlier  than  the  period  of  dies,  being 
merely  bits  of  metal  chopped  from  the  mass. 
About  one  thousand  English  specimens  of  the 
reigns  of  Canute  and  Ethelred  were  excavated  in 
Russia,  and    doubtless    served,    as  did    the    large 


250  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


numbers   found  in  Scandinavia,  for  commerce  in 
furs. 

There  is  a  long  series  of  rooms  filled  with  gems, 
mosaics,  precious  manuscripts,  engraved  stones, 
and  cameos,  and  a  curious  collection  excavated 
at  Kertch  in  the  Crimea,  which  was  a  point  of 
Greek  civilization  500  b.c.  Here  are  crowns, 
weapons,  and  ornaments  of  gold  which  had  been 
untouched  more  than  two  thousand  years  ;  a 
priestess  of  Ceres,  who  was  buried  with  all  her 
ornaments  and  four  horses,  the  trappings  of 
which  remain  ;  innumerable  bracelets,  necklaces, 
brooches,  etc..  enriched  with  enamel,  filigree,  and 
precious  stones,  and  finer  than  all  modern  work- 
manship ;  gold  stirrups  and  bits ;  exquisite  ob- 
jects in  colored  glass,  an  art  which  the  Venetians 
learned  from  Greece  at  a  later  period  ;  a  beautiful 
head-ornament  of  ears  of  wheat  ;  and  silver  re- 
pousse vases  and  drinking-cups,  unrivalled  in  the 
world.      In  truth    this  collection  of  classic  jewelry 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  251 


is  far  more  rich  and  varied  than  that  of  the  Vati- 
can or  the  British  ^Museum.  Amid  all  this  para- 
phernaha  of  beauty  and  o^  vanity  is  a  small 
wooden  comb  inscribed,  "  A  present  from  Sister"  ! 
There  is  also  an  electrum  vase  with  repousse  _ 
figures  of  Scythians  mending  their  weapons,  one 
having  a  tooth  extracted,  a  third  his  wounds 
dressed,  and  all  costumed  like  the  Russian  peas- 
antry of  to-day— the  shirt  outside  the  trousers,  and 
the  trousers  inside  the  boots  !  Hard  study  for 
many  weeks  would  scarcely  serve  to  familiarize 
one  with  the  treasures  of  the  Hermitage  ;  but, 
alas  !    our 

"  bird  of  Time  had  but  a  liitle  way  to  flutter, 
And  the  Bird  was  on  the  wing"  ! 

We  turned  into  the  gallery  of  Peter  the  Great, 
and  encountered  an  effigy  of  the  Iron  Tsar,  start- 
lingly  realistic  and  very  like  his  numerous  portraits, 
with    pronounced    Muscovite    features,   coal-black 


252  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

hair  and  mustache,  and  wide-open  eyes  gazing  at 
the  rehcs  of  his  mundane  existence.  He  is  seated 
in  a  chair,  dressed  in  a  faded  and  worn  blue-silk 
doublet  and  hose  embroidered  by  the  peasant-wife 
whom  he  loved  so  well,  —  "my  heart's  friend,"  as 
he  called  her, — who  retained  her  influence  by  not 
changing  her  native  simplicity  or  putting  on  airs 
after  she  became  Tsarina.  Peter's  massive  canes 
stand  near  him,  and  he  looks  as  if  he  were  quite 
ready  to  seize  one  of  them  according  to  his  wont 
and  lay  it  across  the  shoulders  of  servant  or  officer 
who  might  offend  him.  A  heavy  iron  one  among 
the  number  might  M-ell  leave  a  lasting  souvenir 
of  the  irascible  owner.  There  are  more  credita- 
ble tokens  of  his  personality  in  telescopes,  mathe- 
matical instruments,  turning-lathes,  and  imple- 
ments for  wood-carving  ;  also  a  wax  cast  of  his 
face,  taken  while  he  lived. 

In  the  small  palace  which  he  had  built  for  him- 
self, the  first  house   on   the  marshes  of  the  Neva, 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  253 


the  furniture  is  principally  the  work  of  his  hands — 
wardrobes,  tables,  arm-chairs,  and  a  clock,  carved 
with  taste  and  skill.  A  wax  model  in  a  glass  case 
in  this  gallery  of  the  Hermitage  represents  an 
exceedingly  quaint  little  body  who  was  his  house- 
keeper in  Holland  ;  and  a  pole  seven  feet  high 
shows  his  own  stature.  Here  also  are  scores  of 
other  cases  filled  with  every  conceivable  device  for 
the  display  of  diamonds,  rubies,  emeralds,  and 
sapphires  ;  snuff-boxes,  jewel-coffers,  rings,  neck- 
laces, watches,  gold  goblets,  in  endless  variety  ;  im- 
perial crowns  ;  Potemkin's  glittering  plume,  pre- 
sented by  the  Sultan  ;  Suvaroff's,  given  by  the 
Shah  ;  two  watches  in  the  shape  of  ducks,  one  in 
the  form  of  an  &%%  ;  a  small  parrot  carved  from  an 
emerald  ;  bouquets  of  flowers  made  entirely  of 
precious  stones ;  several  jewelled  walking-sUcks 
that  belonged  to  Catherine ;  and  a  mechanical 
clock,  also  her  property,  but  now  out  of  order, 
which    represents    a    gilded    peacock    of  life-size, 


254  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


whose  tail  when  expanded  was  studded  with  sap- 
phires, emeralds,  and  diamonds  ;  a  cock  that  with 
blazing  crest  flapped  his  wings,  an  owl  that  rolled 
his  onyx  eyes,  and  a  brilliant  grasshopper  devour- 
ing an  agate  mushroom  ;  tine  ivory  carvings  : 
pocket-books  of  tortoise-shell  studded  with  sap- 
phires and  rubies  ;  and  countless  other  costly  com- 
binations of  jewels,  which  are  not  merely  marvels 
of  workmanship  but  are  associated  with  all  the 
illustrious  names  of  the  last  two  centuries. 

There  is  a  little  cottage  of  two  rooms  on  the 
Neva  which  Peter  occupied  before  the  erection  of 
the  house  alluded  to  above.  The  small  room 
where  he  ate  and  slept  is  now  a  chapel,  completely 
lined  with  pictures  of  saints  in  gilded  shrines,  the 
most  important  one  being  a  repulsive  image  of 
the  Saviour,  which  accompanied  Peter  wherever  he 
went.  It  is  believed  to  have  wrought  man}-  mira- 
cles, and  to  be  potent  against  all  ills  of  humanity. 
The    dav    we    were   there    we     noticed     a    voung 


ST.    PETERSBURG. 


555 


moujik  kneeling  opposite  this  image  ;  with  inces- 
sant crossings  he  prostrated  himself  on  the  marble 
floor,  which  was  swept  by  his  long  dark  hair  ;  but 
his  trembling  lips    and    streaming    eyes  betrayed 
some    stronger    emotion    than    that    of   ordinary 
prayer  :  his  gaze  was  riveted  on  the  unresponsive 
picture  with  a  pleading  agony  that  meant  life  or 
death.     We  walked  slowly  around  the  chapel,  and 
then  went  out  to  see  the  boat  which  Peter  himself 
created  ;  we  lingered  in  the  porch  and  watched  the 
devotees  who  thronged  to  the  shrine  :  and  still  he 
knelt  and  wept  and  kissed  the  sacred  stones,  as  if 
his  utter  abandonment  of  woe  must  wrest  from  the 
symbol  or  from  its  antitype  a  promise  or  a  conso- 
lation.     What  cruel  reality  pressed   upon   him  we 
could  not  know  ;   was  it  the  menaced  life  of  one 
he  loved,  or  was  it — Siberia  .^     We  could   not  in- 
trude upon  him,  nor  could  we  command  his  lan- 
guage ;  but  we  shall  never  forget  that  abject  peas- 
ant on  the  banks  of  the  Neva. 


256  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

Ver)'  near  this  point  stand  tlie  high  battle- 
mentecl  walls  of  the  fortress  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  which  is  also  a  prison,  and  contains  the 
mint,  and  a  cathedral  whose  pyramidal  spire,  cov- 
ered with  gold  and  surmounted,  as  usual,  by  an 
angel  and  a  cross,  is  the  highest  in  Russia  and 
towers  conspicuously  above  the  city.  All  the 
Tsars  since  the  time  of  Peter  are  buried  here,  as 
before  they  were  buried  in  Moscow.  The  walls 
are  covered  with  military  trophies,  flags,  keys  of 
fortresses,  etc. ,  the  tokens  of  various  foreign  con- 
quests. 

The  emperors'  tombs  are  of  white  marble  with- 
out effigies.  Above  each  is  a  sacred  image  set  with 
diamonds.  The  one  above  Peter  the  Great  rep- 
resents his  stature  and  breadth  at  his  birth,  ^\ 
inches  by  19:^  ;  the  image  of  St.  Paul  above  the 
Emperor  Paul  serving  a  like  purpose.  Commem- 
orative wreaths  and  flowers  lay  upon  the  tomb  of 
Alexander   TL,    whose  assassination   still   pervades 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  257 

the  capital  with  a  tremor  of  pain  and  foreboding. 
In  the  museum  of  imperial  carriages,  which  we 
visited  the  same  day,  there  was  nothing  so  impres- 
sive as  the  one  he  occupied  when  the  fatal  shot 
was  fired.  It  is  a  closed  carriage  of  the  ordinary 
style,  lined  with  dark-blue  silk.  The  first  bullet 
tore  open  half  the  back  and  killed  the  footman  ; 
as  every  one  remembers,  the  emperor  was  shot 
after  he  stepped  out  of  the  vehicle  to  support  his 
valued  servant.  A  commemorative  chapel  is  now 
in  process  of  erection  on  the  spot. 

This  museum  is  one  of  the  essential  sights  of 
St,  Petersburg.  The  lower  floor  is  occupied  by 
the  ordinary  travelling  and  town  equipages  of  the 
court,  which  of  course  are  as  handsome  and  lux- 
urious as  modern  art  can  make  them.  A  flight  of 
stairs  lined  with  beautiful  Gobelin  tapestries  leads 
to  the  second  story,  where  fbrt\-  or  fifty  immense 
vehicles  create  a  perfect  blaze  of  splendor.  'I'hey 
are  all   completely  covered  with  gold,  even  to  the 


258  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


spokes  of  the  wheels,  which  revolve  around  axles 
dazzling  with  Siberian  jewels.  They  are  all  lined 
with  red-silk  velvet ;  the  panels  of  several  are 
beautifully  painted  by  French  artists,  and  those 
belonging  to  the  empresses  bear  the  arms  of  Rus- 
sia incrusted  with  diamonds.  The  coachman 
who  had  the  honor  of  conveying  Catherine  the 
Great  sat  on  a  box  upheld  by  carved  and  gilded 
eagles  ;  the  back  of  the  vehicle  is  guarded  by  St. 
George  and  the  Dragon,  and  above  the  roof 
blazes  a  jewelled  crown.  Another,  made  for  the 
same  empress,  is  painted  on  gold  ground  with 
allegorical  designs, — Venus  leaving  her  bath  ;  Cath- 
erine as  a  deity  from  Olympus,  bringing  Peace  and 
Plenty,  etc., — and  the  velvet  interior  is  decorated 
with  rich  Spanish  point-lace.  Another  contained 
a  small  stove  and  a  card-table  :  and  some  of  them 
would  hold  ten  or  twelve  occupants.  They  re- 
quire at  least  eight  horses,  and  the  Russians  fre- 
quently drive  four  or  five  abreast.      The  harnesses 


ST.    PETERSBURG.  259 

and  saddles  exhibit  the  same  lavishness  of  gold 
and  color,  with  most  elaborate  finish  and  inter- 
mixture of  jewels.  Coachmen  and  footmen  are 
nearly  covered  with  gold  lace  on  their  green,  blue, 
or  red  velvet  attire  at  the  coronation  of  an  empe- 
ror, when  all  these  emblazoned  carriages  and  trap- 
pings are  sent  off  to  Moscow,  to  figure  in  the  pa- 
geant. The  oldest  of  them  are  without  springs, 
are  hung  very  high,  and  are  attached  by  straps  to 
poles  twenty  feet  long  and  of  great  thickness. 

Again  our  favorite  Tsar,  Peter,  presents  himself 
through  the  sledge  made  by  his  ingenious  hands. 
It  is  merely  a  square  box  painted  some  dark 
color,  with  mica  windows  and  one  hard,  uncom- 
fortable seat ;  a  small  wooden  trunk  behind  held 
his  clothes  and  provisions  for  the  journey  to  Arch- 
angel.     No  Sybarite  was  the  iron-willed  Tsar. 

The  long  twilights  of  July  afforded  us  charming 
drives  in  the  extensive  public  parks  on  the  islands 
in  the  river,  where  we  found  many  sylvan   nooks 


2  6o  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

and  picturesque  bridges  over  streams  .  studded 
with  fanciful  chalets,  each  with  its  own  pretty 
garden.  The  trees  are  generally  firs  and  birch, 
smaller  than  those  in  Norway  ;  but  there  are  also 
fine  oaks. 


I  have  outlined  with  rapid  pen  only  a  few  of  the 
salient  features  of  this  fascinating  capital ;  but  my 
modest  pages  approach  their  limit,  and  I  must  yet 
present  a  brief  kaleidoscopic  view  of  the  ancient 
and  beloved  city  of  the  Tsars — ''  Holy  Moscow."' 


r  -J 

'^^^-'^' 

_/0kr 

The  Kremlin— Moscow. 


CHAPTER    11. 

MOSCOW. 

WHEN  the  Emperor  Nicholas  decreed  a  rail- 
way between  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow 
for  military  convenience,  and  with  pen  in  hand 
drew  a  straight  line,  which  left  out  all  villages 
and  towns  eti  route,  he  burlded  better  than  he 
knew,  or  cared,  for  the  benefit  of  future  tourists. 
A  more  flat  and  desolate  intervening  country 
would  be  difficult  to  find  anywhere  ;  even  more 
dreary  is  it  than  the  desert  plateau  between  Bur- 
gos and  Madrid.  Therefore  one  loses  nothing  by 
taking  the  night-train  to  Moscow,  which  starts 
about  eight  o'clock. 

We  had  secured  a  private  compartment  the  pre- 
vious day   by  a   few  rubles   supplementary  to  the 


MOSCOW.  263 


salary  of  some  prominent  official,  who  greeted  us 
with  the  high  consideration  always  awarded  to 
such  disinterested  action.  Our  small  salon,  fur- 
nished with  two  tables,  was  convertible  into  a 
comfortable  bedroom. 

The  road,  which  was  constructed  by  an  Ameri- 
can engineer,  is  remarkably  smooth,  and  the  car- 
riages are  luxurious.  The  stations,  standing  in 
oases  of  trees  and  gardens,  are  built  of  red  brick 
and  white  stone,  and  are  the  most  spacious  and 
handsome  I  have  ever  seen.  In  each  one  is  a  gay 
little  shop  for  the  sale  of  national  trifles,  sculp- 
tured wooden  x:rosses,  morocco  slippers  embroi- 
dered in  silver  and  gold,  Circassian  belts,  knives 
in  niello  work,  etc.  Waiters  in  full  dress  serve 
excellent  refreshments,  and  the  buffets  offer  fair 
wines,  beer,  kvas,  a  sort  of  fruit-syrup,  leslo/ka,  a 
spirit  flavored  with  black-currant  leaves,  vodka, 
which  is  not  a  fiery  liquid — in  small  quantities — and 
more  pleasant  than  brandy,  besides  all  the  curious 


264  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


"appetizers,"  called  zakuska.  Half  an  hour  or 
more  is  allowed  at  the  principal  stopping-places, 
and  there  are  frequent  pauses  of  ten  minutes, 
which  give  opportunity  to  scan  the  coming  and 
going  pilgrims  as  they  frequented  the  stations. 
As  we  approached  INIoscow  we  noticed  officers 
in  dashing  uniforms ;  long-bearded  merchants  ; 
Tartars  or  Armenians  ;  Russian  peasants  in  long 
caftans  and  long  hair  ;  women  with  bright-colored 
handkerchiefs  tied  at  the  back  of  their  heads  ;  a 
little  better  class  sparkling  with  chains,  bracelets, 
and  all  sorts  of  showy  jewelry.  No  one  hastens, 
for  there  are  three  warning  bells,  and  no  confusion 
prevails. 

The  distance  to  Moscow  is  about  fourteen  hours, 
and  in  the  luminous  summer  night  we  had  ample 
opportunity  to  study  the  monotonous  and  dreary 
landscape.  Hour  after  hour  the  scene  repeats  it- 
self:  now  and  then  appears  a  cluster  of  miserable 
wooden   cabins,  with   a  few  vegetables  struggling 


MOSCOW. 


265 


out  of  the  earth  ;  no  farms,  no  paths,  no  inclos- 
ures  ;  sometimes  a  small  white  church  with  green 


Russian  Costume. 


cupola  indicates  that  souls  as  well   as  bodies  in- 
habit  those   pitiful   abodes.      It  is  said,    however, 


266  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


that  the  peasants  are  a  contented,  good-humored 
race  and  may  be  very  merry  on  occasion,  espe- 
cially when  in  the  winter  snows,  well  wrapped  in 
sheep-skins,  they  disport  like  polar  bears.  But 
the  intolerable  cold  and  darkness  of  six  months  of 
the  year  and  the  prostrating  heat  of  three  months 
more  must  dishearten,  and  the  consequence  is  a 
continuous  flow  of  population  into  the  cities, 
where  employment  of  some  sort  is  readily  ob- 
tained, not  only  to  support  life,  but  also  to  pay 
the  tax  to  the  commune,  which  since  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  serfs  takes  the  place  of  that  formerly 
given  to  the  nobles  or  the  State. 

By  the  terms  of  the  emancipation  law  the  serfs 
were  divided  into  cimwiimes,  which  possess  the 
land  in  common,  under  a  local  government  :  but 
any  member  of  the  co?}imu?te  may  readily  obtain 
from  it  permission  to  seek  employment  in  one  of 
the  cities,  and  to  pay  his  tribute  in  money  instead 
of  in  labor  on  the  land.      We  heard  from   several 


MOSCOIV. 


267 


sources  that  the  servants  are  incorrigible  pilferers 
(except  the  Tartars,  who  are  perfectly  honest)  ;  but 


Russian  Peasant. 
as  an  offset  they  are  good-humored,  respectful,  and 
obedient.      There  was  a  story  told  many  years  ago 


268  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


of  a  soldier  on  guard  in  the  Winter  Palace  when 
it  took  fire  and  the  whole  interior  was  consumed. 
A  priest  who  was  hurrying  from  the  chapel  with 
some  of  its  sacred  vessels  warned  him  to  quit  his 
post.  "  I  wait  orders,"  said  the  man.  The  priest 
hurriedly  absolved  him,  and  he  stood  sturdily  at 
his  post  and  was  burned  to  death. 

The  monotony  of  the  road  to  ]\Ioscow  is  broken 
twice  by  long  bridges  over  streams  which  wander 
away  through  endless  plains  and  between  dismal 
forests,  howling  in  winter  with  wolves  and  bears, 
till  they  unite  with  the  Volga  and  are  finally  lost 
in  the  Caspian  Sea.  About  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning  we  passed  several  rather  pretty  villages, 
masses  of  dark  trees,  and  finally,  through  the  veil 
of  thin,  quivering  haze,  we  caught  sight  of  the 
burnished  domes,  the  pinnacles,  crosses,  and 
polychromartic  colors  of  the  ancient  city  of  the 
Tsars.  How  gay  was  our  excitement  !  how  hypo- 
critical  our  assumed    composure  !     Moscoiv  :    so 


MOSCOW.  269 


far  from  home  it  sounded  !  ^o  like  a  bil  IVom  the 
Arabian  Nights  it  looked  I 

The  conventionalities  of  the  railway  station  and 
the  appearance  of  a  hyl)rid  Russo-English  ikilet  de 
place  from  the  hotel  dispelled  the  illusion,  and 
Nve  were  soon  whirling  through  the  labyrinthine 
streets,  which  in  their  confusion  of  geometry  and 
mad  festivity  of  color  resembled  a  kaleidoscope 
out  of  order,  until  we  arrived  at  the  Slavianski 
Bazaar.  This  edifice  is  not  a  place  of  merchan- 
dise, but  a  comfortable  hotel,  whose  appoint- 
ments, though  composite  of  Russian  and  Ger- 
man, adapt  themselves  to  all  seasonable  require- 
ments. There  are  no  tables  d'hote  in  Russia,  but 
for  a  party  of  travellers  dinner  a  la  carte  is  always 
more  agreeable.  There  is  an  English  manager, 
who  attends  very  civilly  to  his  guests.  Two  por- 
ters stand  like  caryatides  at  the  entrance-door 
when  not  engaged  in  opening  and  shutting  car- 
riages ;   their  dress  is  like  that   of  the  guards  on 


270  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


the  railway — white  gloves,  full  plaited  dark  wool- 
len caftans  belted  around  the  waist  and  reaching 
to  the  knees,  where  they  meet  the  loose  high 
boots  universal  in  the  lower  classes  ;  but  unlike 
the  guards  they  wear  high  evases,  cloth  caps  with 
the  aesthetic  appendage  of  peacock-feathers  all 
around  the  front. 

Our  suite  of  rooms  had  a  balcony  which  over- 
looked a  square  thoroughly  Oriental,  save  for  the 
lack  of  turbans  and  burnouses. 

This  part  of  Moscow  is  the  Kifai  Gorod,  or 
Chinese  City,  so  called  because  within  its  walls 
merchants  formerly  sought  shelter  for  the  treas- 
ures they  brought  from  China  and  other  foreign 
sources.  The  Slavianski  Bazaar  was  probably 
a  prominent  point  of  traffic.  On  one  side  of  the 
square  were  several  churches  ;  one  w-ith  clusters  of 
pale-green  cupolas  surmounted  by  Greek  crosses, 
and  bell-towers  shaped  like  bulbs  ;  another,  more 
distant,  gleaming  in   various  colors  of  red,  blue, 


MOSCOW 


271 


green,   and    silver,   like    the    scales    of  the   fabled 
dragon ;  in  front,  the  turrets  and  buttresses  of  the 


Wine  Seller — Moscow  Market, 


wall   of  the   Kiiai  Gorod ;    and    between    these  a 
market-place    crowded   with   men    in    blue   shirts, 


272  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


red  shirts,  and  patriarchal  beards  ;  a  few  women 
in  motley  wear  ;  vendors  of  fish,  vegetables,  and 
wine,  with  baskets  on  their  heads  ;  rude,  unpainted 
carts,  and  shaggy,  long-haired  horses  slightly  har- 
nessed with  ropes,  and  a  murmur  in  the  air  of 
strange,  soft  syllables. 

The  Russian  language  is  very  pleasant  to  the  ear 
and  pictorial  to  the  eye  ;  but  its  grammar,  which 
has  no  article,  bristles  with  declinations,  inflections, 
and  inversions  which  no  foreigner  but  iMezzofanti 
could  conquer  and  only  jNIark  Twain  conld  justly 
describe.  Breakfast  was  served  in  our  sitting- 
room — fchai  slamoniun  and  strawberries,  of  course  ; 
and  our  brief  vocabulary,  here  as  everywhere, 
proved  an  essential  acquisition,  for  the  servants, 
with  one  exception,  spoke  nothing  but  Russ  ; 
our  chambermaid  also  was  a  native  and  knew 
only  four  French  words,  but  made  up  the  deficit 
with  smiles. 


Moscou:  273 


THE    STREETS. 

We  soon  started  for  a  drive,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Evanson,  \\v<t  valet  de  place,  who  was  hence- 
forth our  constant  attendant.  It  is  best  to  engage 
a  carriage  by  the  week  ;  for  although  the  pave- 
ments are  as  bad  as  they  well  can  be,  and  there  is 
little  pleasure  in  the  movement,  yet  the  distances 
are  too  great  for  ladies  to  \valk,  and  at  all  events 
they  should  never  walk  unattended. 

There  is  as  great  a  contrast  between  the  two 
capitals  of  Russia  as  between  its  two  zones  of 
climate  and  cultivation.  St.  Petersburg  rises  from 
a  flat  and  marshy  delta  apparently  more  water 
than  land  ;  broad  rivers  and  a  sea  menace  its  ex- 
istence ;  its  wide,  right-angled  streets,  modern 
palaces,  and  general  pomp  of  classic  imitation  are 
not  in  harmony  with  gilded  spires  and  domes  of 
Muscovite  antiquity.  Moscow,  which  is  about 
twenty-five  miles  in  circumference,  rises  on  gently- 


2  74  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


undulating  hills  around  which  glides  a  small 
sinuous  river ;  the  irregular  streets  are  built  in 
two  concentric  zones,  the  interior  of  which  is  the 
older  and  more  picturesque  one.  In  the  centre, 
on  a  yet  more  elevated  hill,  stands  the  Kremlin, 
visible  from  every  point  within  the  horizon,  and  on 
all  sides  the  sky-line  is  pierced  by  sparkling  domes, 
cupolas,  spires,  and  pinnacles,  with  an  effect  like 
aerial  chevaux  de  frise  of  gold  and  silver.  After 
the  great  conflagration  in  1 8 1 2  the  city  was  re- 
built on  the  same  tortuous  lines,  with  little  change 
of  general  aspect  except  that  more  gardens  were 
introduced  and  the  houses  were  more  decorated. 
The  Kremlin  was  much  less  injured  than  the  city 
at  large,  and  thus  the  venerable  city  retains,  except 
in  its  modern  outstretching  boulevards,  its  ancient 
prestige.  It  is  the  revered  Mecca  of  the  Russian 
peasant,  who  as  soon  as  he  catches  sight  from  afar 
of  the  golden  cross  on  the  Ivan  tower  falls  on 
his  knees  with  patriotic  devotion. 


Game  Vendor — Moscow  Market. 


76  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


It  is  less  than  iwo  hundred  years  since  the  in- 
fluence of  \\'estern  Europe  was  first  known  in 
Russia,  and  thus  far  the  traditions  and  customs  of 
the  East  are  not  effaced.  Long  centuries  of 
Byzantine  civiHzation,  which  even  under  Tartar 
rule  was  preserved  in  the  convent  fortresses,  have 
impressed  upon  the  people  great  faith  in  their  re- 
ligion, fidelity  to  the  Tsars,  and  love  for  the  father- 
land. All  these  elements  of  stability  promise  well 
for  the  future  greatness  of  the  empire  ;  and  to 
these  may  be  added  the  material  dependence  of 
each  portion  upon  the  others.  The  grain-lands  of 
the  South,  the  forests  of  the  North,  the  sea-coasts 
of  both  for  the  industrial  interior,  form  a  mutual 
and  permanent  bond  of  necessity. 

Only  after  man)-  days  does  the  eye  accustom 
itself  to  the  bizarre  and  marvellous  variety  of  form 
and  color  in  Moscow.  Here  stands  a  palace  with 
imposing  iron  portals  painted  in  red  and  gold  ; 
there,  a  white  church  with  a  constellation  of  stars 


MOSCOW.  277 


on  the  blue  ground  of  its  dome  ;  next,  a  cluster 
of  yellow  wooden  tenements,  then  a  family  man- 
sion with  profuse  pillars  ;  again,  we  pass  an  open 
court  or  garden  entered  through  a  wrought-iron 
trellised  gateway  that  stands  between  green  and 
white  columns,  and  within  we  see  a  convent,  or  a 
church,  or  a  private  dwelling,  with  splashes  of  red 
ruof,  blue  roof,  green  roof,  or  gilded  cupolas  : — ■ 
as  if  a  mad  painter  had  shaken  a  giganuc  palette 
full  o{  color  over  the  entire  city.  Add  to  this  the 
ornate  signs  above  the  shops  and  the  same  gay 
simulacra  as  at  St.  Petersburg  of  fruits,  vegetables, 
wines,  etc.  The  shrines  for  holy  images  with 
perpetual  lamps  before  them  are  more  jjrofuse, 
and  the  genuflections  and  signs  of  the  cross  more 
noticeable,  perhaps  because  the  streets  are  not  so 
wide  and  the  crowd  is  larger. 

There  are  fewer  foreigners  in  Moscow,  and  odd 
costumes  are  frequent.  Now  and  then  a  Persian 
or    an   Armenian   in   embroidered   fez   and  jacket 


278  Rr SSI  A IV  DAYS. 


and  creamy  silk  vest  strides  with  slippered  feet 
along  the  pavement,  or  a  turbaned  Circassian, 
girt  with  silver  belt  from  which  hangs  a  scimitar 
and  a  yataghan.  White-bearded  old  peasants 
from  the  country  with  serious  blue  eyes  would 
pose  as  Abrahams  to  the  delight  of  an  artist,  and 
the  hand-worked  dresses  of  the  girls  with  lavish 
strings  of  colored  beads  are  extremely  tasteful. 

We  took  a  drive  one  Sunday  afternoon  to  the 
Petrovski  Park,  and  came  upon  the  Sax  Garden, 
where  there  was  a  fine  band  and  restaurant,  and 
a  crowd  of  pleasure-seekers  as  gay  as  parrots  and 
peacocks.  One  costume  was  a  high,  gold-em- 
broidered cap,  and  a  black  silk  dress  with  scarlet 
sleeves,  to  which  were  added  gold  chains,  brooches, 
and  necklaces  enough  to  fit  out  a  jeweller's  win- 
dow. But  such  attire  is  exceptional  ;  the  usual 
dress  is  cosmopolitan,  with  national  variations. 
Our  valei  de  place,  who  perhaps  had  his  own  in- 
terest in  the   matter,  conducted  us  one   day  to   a 


MOSCOW.  279 


small  shop  of  purely  Caucasian  silks  and  orna- 
ments, the  master  of  which  was  a  Persian,  and 
in  his  becoming  native  costume  a  superb  speci- 
men of  Oriental  manly  beauty,  with  tragic  face 
and  reverent  courtesy  of  manner.  His  creamy 
silk  shawls  were  as  fascinating  as  himself,  and  we 
made  several  purchases  at  prices  lower  than  he 
asked,  though  not  without  a  feeling  that  it  was 
almost  an  insult  to  his  Grandeur  to  ask  a  reduc- 
tion on  the  wares  he  condescended  to  hand  over 
to  our  Commonplaces.  After  this,  one  of  my 
party,  whose  blue  eyes  see  all  in  the  world  that 
is  beautiful  and  good  and  nothing  that  is  ugly 
or  evil,  vanished  every  day  for  half  an  hour,  under 
the  protection  o{  Evanson,  ostensibly  to  buy  a 
Bagdad  shawl  or  some  bit  of  Eastern  trumpery, 
but  actually,  I  believe,  for  the  sake  of  seeing  this 
Persian  Magnificence  lay  his  hand  on  his  heart  and 
say  in  soft  syllables,  with  a  voice  as  deep-toned  and 
sonorous  as  a  ]\Ioscow  bell,  ''To  you,  my  lady, 


2  8o  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


I  would  give  it  for  ten  rubles  ;  but,  alas  !  I  cannot 
for  less  than  fifteen  !  Nevertheless,  accept  it  for 
twelve  !" 

The  bells  of  Moscow  !  There  may  exist  such 
musical  intonations  elsewhere,  but  I  have  never 
heard  them.  Every  morning  at  an  early  hour  the 
bells  in  the  churches  near  the  Slavianski  Bazaar 
lifted  their  grand  voices,  not  suddenly,  in  stunning 
avalanche  of  sound,  but  in  single  successive  notes 
in  the  same  diapason,  which  filled  the  air  with 
harmonious  pulsations,  deep  and  thrilling  as 
those  of  a  mighty  organ.  All  other  bells,  even 
festive  bells  in  other  lands,  are  a  jangle  and  a 
wrangle  forever  hereafter, — excepting  "  Big  Ben  " 
of  Westminster  and  wSt.  Mark's  in  Venice,  which  in 
their  melodious  resonance  are  akin  to  those  of 
Moscow.  The  great  bell  of  the  Ivan  tower  is 
unequalled  in  size  as  well  as  in  timbre ;  it  was 
brought  from  Novgorod  the  Great,  where  it  once 
called  the  population  to  arms  when  the  Muscovite 


Ivan  Tower,  Kkkmlin — Moscow. 


282  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


Grand.  Dukes  threatened  their  freedom.  There  are 
thirty-two  more  bells  in  the  Ivan  tower,  two  of 
them  made  of  silver,  and  the  oldest  one  bears  the 
date  of  1550.  There  are  345  churches  in  Mos- 
cow, and  as  doubtless  they  all  have  bells,  the  flood 
of  melodious  sound  on  Christmas  and  Easter 
morning  may  be  imagined. 

At  the  foot  of  the  Ivan  tower  stands  on  a  low 
granite  pedestal  the  colossal  Tsar  Kolokol,  or 
King  of  Bells,  which  weighs  about  five  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  pounds.  Its  date  is  unknown, 
for  it  fell  and  was  recast  several  times,  and  each 
time  gained  essentially  in  weight.  In  1733  it  was 
last  recast,  and  the  ladies  of  Moscow  commem- 
orated the  occasion  by  throwing  into  the  liquid 
metal  many  jewels  and  gold  and  silver  ornaments, 
which  probably  weakened  its  strength,  for  it  fell 
again  five  years  later,  and  remained  half-buried  for 
a  century.  This  tower  of  brass  with  walls  two 
feet  thick,  capable  of  holding  twenty-five  or  thirty 


MOSCOW.  283 


men,  will  probably  never  again  fulfil  its  mission 
as  a  bell,  but  now  poses  as  a  monument  and  a 
failure. 

The  clustered  bells  that  ring  successive  notes  in 
the  same  diapason  remind  me  of  an  anecdote  of 
a  certain  princess  who  was  accustomed  to  enter- 
tain her  guests  by  the  instrumental  performance 
of  a  number  of  her  serfs,  who  were  trained,  ac- 
cording to  a  prevailing  custom,  to  sound  each  his 
single  note  in  the  proper  place  in  the  harmony. 
One  evening  the  musicians  were  not  forthcoming 
as  usual,  and  on  the  princess  being  asked  the  rea- 
son, she  replied,  "I  am  sorry  that  you  can  have 
no  music  to-night,  but  my  C  sharp  has  received 
forty  lashes  of  the  knout  to-day,  and  is  therefore 
unable  to  sound  his  note." 

THE    KKKMLIN. 

The  Kremlin,  or  ancient  citadel,  dating  back  of 
the  XV.  centur}-,  was  repeatedly  destroyed  b\-  fire  in 


284  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

its  earlier  days,  and  has  existed  in  its  present  form 
only  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Its  crenelated 
walls,  pierced  by  five  great  archways  of  entrance, 
embrace  a  triangular  space  of  two  square  miles, 
and  are  flanked  by  enormous  towers  of  every  con- 
ceivable shape  and  size,  round  and  square,  light 
and  graceful  as  minarets,  or  solid  as  bastions, 
surmounted  by  steep  scaly  roofs,  brilliant  as  the 
hues  of  a  tropical  serpent.  Below  the  ramparts 
lie  verdant  terraces,  around  the  foot  of  which 
winds  the  lovely  Moskva  River.  Formerly,  watch- 
men on  these  battlements  were  constantly  on  the 
look-out,  and  when  they  saw  clouds  of  dust 
sweeping  over  the  flat  plains  of  the  south  they 
knew  that  the  Tartar  hordes  of  the  Crimea  were 
at  hand  with  devastating  purpose.  Then  the 
great  bell  of  the  Ivan  tower  sounded  the  call  of 
warning,  and  every  one  fled  for  safety  to  the  forti- 
fied monasteries  or  the  palace,  at  whose  gates  the 
wild   horsemen    battered  in  vain.      The  Kremlin, 


MOSCOIV.  285 


which  is  the  arsenal  of  the  army,  the  centre  of 
the  most  sacred  churches  and  of  the  royal  palaces, 
is  the  Acropolis  of  Russia,  and  has  been  com- 
pared to  the  Alhambra.  But  the  Alhambra  has  no 
such  opulence  of  clustered  domes  and  pinnacles, 
no  such  lavishment  of  golden  reflections ;  the 
shadows  of  a  gifted  and  injured  people  rest  upon 
its  massive  bastions  ;  the  last  sigh  of  Boabdil  lin- 
gers in  the  Hall  of  Lions,  and  modern  restora- 
tions of  its  delicate  polychromatic  tracery  cannot 
chase  the  phantoms  of  sad  sultanas,  whose  lutes 
once  vibrated  to  laughter  and  the  silvery  fall  of 
fountains.  The  Kremlin  has  no  similar  pathos  in 
its  history.  The  race  that  created  it  is  the  race  of 
to-day,  in  full  progress  of  development,  and  its  rev- 
erence for  the  past  combines  with  the  love  and  hope 
of  the  present.  I  believe  that  one  reason  why  our 
tour  through  Norway  and  Russia  was  so  full  of  en- 
joyment was  because  we  were  not  called  upon  to 
sigh  over  mouldering  palaces  and  be-poetized  ruins. 


Spasski  (Redeemer)  Gate— Kremlin. 


MOSCOW.  287 


The  most  grandiose  gate  leading  into  the  Krem- 
lin is  the  Spasski  (Redeemer)  Gate,  so  called  be- 
cause above  the  arch  of  entrance  on  the  inner  side 
is  a  sacred  picture  of  the  Saviour,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  revered  in  the  city.  No  one,  from  Tsar 
to  peasant,  ever  goes  by  without  saluting  it,  and 
strangers  are  warned  to  follow  that  example — not 
only  to  uncover  the  head,  but  to  leave  it  uncov- 
ered until  they  have  passed  through  the  deep  arch- 
way :  a  requisition  which,  when  the  thermometer 
is  ten  or  fifteen  degrees  below  zero,  must  be 
rather  conducive  to  sudden  influenza.  There 
is  a  legend  that  once  when  the  Tartars  attacked 
the  Kremlin,  such  a  mist  came  suddenly  from  the 
picture  that  they  were  unable  to  find  the  entrance. 
Criminals  formerly  executed  in  the  large  square 
outside  always  offered  it  their  last  prayers. 

There  is  another  gate  called  the  Nicholas,  over 
which  is  suspended  a  miraculous  image  of  St. 
Nicholas.      Napoleon    ordered    the  destruction   of 


RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


this  tower,  but  it  escaped  with  only  a  cleft  that  ex- 
tended to  the  frame  of  the  picture,  and  not  even 
the  glass  before  it,  or  the  hanging-lamp,  was  in- 
jured.  After  passing  through  the  Spasski  Gate  we 
are  on  the  elevated  esplanade  that  overlooks  the 
city,  and  surrounded  by  palaces,  monasteries,  and 
churches  from  which  rise  fantasic  minarets  and 
arrowy  stems  supporting  crown-like  golden  domes, 
and  clusters  of  larger  domes  which  from  certain 
angles  reflect  on  their  burnished  surfaces  clouds 
above  and  trees  below.  Beyond  spreads  the 
broad  panorama. 

From  the  summit  of  the  Ivan  tower,  v/hich  we 
ascended,  there  is  a  view  as  dazzling  as  a  scene  of 
enchantment.  The  eye  sweeps  over  gardens, 
buildings  with  gay-colored  roofs,  and  the  thou- 
sand domes  and  countless  Greek  crosses  which 
group  in  dark  rich  masses  or  spring  in  airy  bright- 
ness under  the  play  of  sunshine  and  shadow. 


AfOSCOW.  289 


THE    KREMLIN PALACES. 

We  went  every  day  to  the  Kremlin,  and  the 
days  were  all  too  few.  We  had  onl}-  ten  ;  but  they 
began  early  and  ended  late,  and  fortunately  the 
usual  warmth  of  summer  was  tempered  hy  a  daily 
shower.  We  awoke  early  each  morning  to  the 
sound  of  those  glorious  bells,  and  we  always 
sprang  to  the  balcony  to  assure  ourselves  that  the 
mise-en-schie  had  not  vanished  in  the  night. 

We  passed  two  long  mornings  at  the  Imperial 
Palace  and  the  adjoining  one  of  the  ancient  Tsars. 
Their  details  are  fixed  on  my  memory,  but  I  hesi- 
tate to  attempt  description.  The  New  Palace 
built  by  Nicholas  presents  externally  a  mixture  of 
architecture  quite  incongruous  with  the  Byzantine 
edifices  around  it,  but  the  interior  has  all  the  os- 
tentation of  space  resplendent  with  gold  and 
color  that  delights  the  Russian  eye.  The  vestibule 
is  supported  by  the  usual   monoliths,  which  licre 


290  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

are  of  gray  marble,  and  the  lofty  staircase  is  of  the 
same  material.  Two  superb  crystal  vases  stand 
on  either  side  at  the  top,  and  the  wall  is  nearly 
covered  bv  a  vigorous  painting  of  the  victory 
of  Dimitry  of  the  Don  over  the  Tartars,  in 
1380 — a  ruinous  victory,  as  he  began  with  four 
hundred  thousand  men  and  ended  with  forty 
thousand.  A  good  monarch,  say  historians,  was 
this  same  Dimitry,  just  and  kindly,  but  the  victim 
of  Tartar  invasion  at  last. 

From  this  picture  we  pass  through  ante-rooms 
and  corridors,  until  we  reach  the  chastely  beautiful 
Hall  of  St.  George,  two  hundred  feet  long  and 
proportionally  wide  and  high,  all  in  gold  and 
white  ;  the  floors  of  exquisite  marquetrie,  the 
walls  inscribed  with  the  names  in  gold  of  the 
members  of  the  Order.  The  crystal  chandeliers 
hold  3,200  candles  ;  but  the  next  room  en  suite, 
the  Alexander  Hall,  which  is  only  half  as  long,  is 
lighted  by  4,500.      This  superb  room  in  pink  and 


MOSCOW.  291 


gold  is  filled  with  pictures  relating  to  the  life  of 
St.  Alexander  Nevsky.  Then  follows  the  Hall  of 
St.  Andrew,  vaulted  like  a  Gothic  cathedral,  with 
walls  of  pale-blue  silk  and  gold  ;  and  the  thrones 
of  the  emperor  and  empress  at  the  end  are  su- 
perbly carved  and  gilded,  with  jewelled  crowns 
and  a  jewelled  letter  A  resting  above  the  gold-em- 
broidered crimson  velvet  which  cushions  them  ; 
the  dais  and  the  steps  leading  to  it  are  covered 
with  cloth  of  gold. 

We  proceed  to  other  state  drawing-rooms  and 
state  bedrooms  adorned  with  brocaded  walls,  jas- 
per mantelpieces,  verde-antique  pilasters,  mirrors 
in  silver  frames,  etc.,  until  we  are  sated  with  mod- 
ern splendor,  and  gladly  descend  by  an  inner  pas- 
sage to  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Tsars,  which  is 
so  fantastic  and  bizarre  that  we  seem  to  have  been 
led  blindfold  to  Ispahan  or  Bagdad. 

1  cannot  picture  all  these  most  curious  rooms  ; 
but  the  banqueting-room  where  the  emperor  and 


292  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


empress  dine  the  day  of  their  coronation  will 
suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  the  others.  The  ceiling 
is  formed  of  gilded  vaultings  which  meet  in  the 
centre,  and  are  upheld  by  an  enormous  pillar 
around  which  stands  in  prandial  pomp,  on  these 
occasions,  a  massive  and  ancient  silver  service. 
Geometric  figures  of  frowning  colors  overlie  the 
gold  of  the  walls,  and,  following  the  lines  of  the 
arches,  dark  inscriptions  in  old  Sclavonic  letters 
bear  to  a  stranger's  eye  a  mysterious  menace  like 
that  of  the  writing  on  Belshazzar's  wall.  The 
newly-crowned  sovereigns  in  the  pomp  of  their 
regalia  sit  on  thrones  under  a  canopy  of  cloth  of 
gold  bordered  with  ermine,  and  drink  to  the 
health  of  their  subjects,  while  crowned  heads  only 
share  their  repast.  The  highest  functionaries  and 
superior  clergy  are  seated  at  side  tables,  alwaj^s 
facing  the  imperial  party. 

The  carpet   in    this   room   is    like   Persian    em- 
broideries,   a  wonderful  massing   of  brilliant  bits 


MOSCOW.  293 


of  cloth  sewed  into  apertures  cut  in  the  ground- 
work ;  the  colors  very  bright,  but  quite  in  har- 
mony with  the  principles  of  that  sort  of  art. 

Very  interesting  is  the  Tere?n,  or  suite  of  rooms 
in  the  upper  stories  set  apart  for  the  wives  and 
children  of  the  Tsars,  to  which  the  ascent  is  by  a 
narrow  twisted  stairway  with  carved  stone  balus- 
trade ;  the  rooms  are  small  and  vaulted,  ceilings 
and  walls  overlaid  with  ornate  and  elaborate 
arabesques  ;  red  predominates  in  one  room,  blue 
in  another,  green  in  a  third  ;  frescoes  intermingled 
present  sacred  subjects,  and  the  narrow  painted 
windows  repeat  the  mural  colors.  The  light  as 
it  came  through  them  was  dim  and  cloistered  even 
that  summer  day,  and  must  have  been  lugubrious 
indeed  to  the  royal  ladies  wlio  were  once  restricted 
to  these  narrow  limits.  One  wonders  how  they 
passed  the  interminable  hours  :  the  wife  of  Peter 
the  Great  in  her  modest  home  in  St.  Petersburg 
embroidered  her  husband's  doublet  and  superin- 


2  94  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

tended  his  dinner.  The  furniture  is  Asiatic  in 
fashion,  very  odd  but  unostentatious  ;  a  cushion 
and  rug  that  He  at  the  foot  of  the  uncomfortable 
wooden  arm-chair  of  the  Tsar  Michael  were 
worked  by  one  of  his  daughters,  but  their  bar- 
baric combinations  of  color  would  scarcely  find 
favor  in  our  art-schools. 

There  is  a  charming,  quaint  simplicity  in  the 
ancient  Romanoff  house  outside  of  the  Kremlin, 
where  we  felt  introduced  into  a  princely  Russian 
household  of  three  centuries  past.  It  would  leave 
much  to  desire  in  this  luxurious  age,  in  size,  light, 
and  comfort  ;  but  as  the  small,  low  rooms  are 
made  of  carved  wood,  dark  brown  with  age,  they 
contrast  restfully  with  the  opulence  of  decoration 
in  other  royal  abodes.  It  has  even  now  a  look  of 
home  life  ;  we  could  almost  see  the  sturdy 
Romanoff  children  playing  with  the  toys  and 
primers  which  are  preserved  in  a  glass  case  since 
they  were  laid  there  two  hundred  years  ago, — such 


MOSCOM'.  295 


toys  and  primers  as  our  babies  would  laugh  to 
scorn, — and  we  could  fancy  the  grandfather  of  our 
friend  Peter  shuffling  about  in  the  half-worn 
yellow-leather  slippers  that  have  survived  him,  and 
the  Tsarina  complacent  with  her  extremely  coarse 
linen  chemise — embroidered  all  the  same — now 
yellow  with  the  tints  of  time. 

THE    KREMLIN CHURCHES. 

The  most  characteristic  church  in  Moscow  is 
the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption,  in  the  Kremlin, 
where  the  Tsars  have  always  been  crowned.  Its 
dark  and  sumptuous  interior  recalls  the  gleaming 
cavern  of  St.  Mark's,  but  does  not,  like  that, 
stretch  into  mystical  indistinctness.  Four  im- 
mense square  pillars  supporting  the  central  cu- 
pola are  flanked  by  four  smaller  ones.  On  the 
golden  ground  which  covers  every  inch  of  the 
walls,  as  well  as  of  the  pillars,  are  depicted  hun- 
dreds of  sombre,  archaic  saints,  martvrs,  ami  even 


296  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

the  Eternal  Father  in  guise  of  an  old  man  with 
sweeping  w'hite  hair  and  beard — a  pantheon  of 
nimbussed  gods  w^hose  sad,  fixed  eyes  and  ex- 
tended hands  seem  to  menace  rather  than  bless. 
The  lofty  gold  wall  of  the  Ikonostas  reaches  almost 
to  the  ceiling ;  on  its  fa9ade  stand  five  rows  of 
saints,  one  above  the  other,  their  aureoles 
studded  with  diamonds,  while  bracelets  and  neck- 
laces of  rubies,  sapphires,  pearls,  emeralds,  and 
amethysts  sparkle  around  their  brown  necks  and 
hands.  The  more  uncouth  in  mien  and  color 
these  images,  the  more  they  are  esteemed  ;  those 
of  most  ancient  and  holy  repute  are  nearly  black, 
like  the  ]\Iadonnas  of  St.  Luke.  Their  accom- 
paniments of  burning  lamps,  candles,  jewels,  and 
gold  seem  little  removed  from  pagan  idolatry ;  but 
we  remember  that  these  symbols  appeal  to  the 
imagination  :  that  flame  is  a  token  of  the  presence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  lavishness  of  ornament 
bestowed  represents  the  abnegation  of  the  givers. 


MOSCOW.  297 


But  although  the  first  effect  of  these  Russian 
churches  dazzles  the  eye  and  kindles  the  fancy, 
we  recur  with  increased  admiration  to  the  ' '  petri- 
fied music  "  of  Gothic  architecture,  the  perspec- 
tive of  "long-drawn  aisle  and  fretted  vault,"  and 
the  personality  of  sculptured  saints  and  apostles. 

As  an  example  of  the  realistic  impression  of  the 
latter,  I  recall  the  solemnly  dramatic  burial  of 
Pius  IX.  in  St.  Peter's,  which  I  had  the  privilege 
of  witnessing.  It  was  at  night,  and  the  vast  edi- 
fice was  in  darkness  save  for  the  constellation  of 
lamps  that  always  burn  around  the  tomb  of  the 
apostle,  a  few  great  candles  that  stood  here  and 
there  on  pedestals,  and  those  borne  by  the  mourn- 
ful procession.  ■-  Their  gleams  fell  fitfully  on  white 
monuments  in  the  indefinite  recesses  of  aisles  and 
chapels,  and  cast  Rembrandt-like  shadows  and 
lights  on  sculptured  hierarchs  and  apostles.  The 
uncofiined  body  of  the  dead  high-priest,  robed 
in  scarlet  and   crowned  with   the   tiara,  was  borne 


298  RL^SSIAN  DAYS. 


down  the  central  nave  and  around  the  balda- 
chin of  St.  Peter  to  the  chapel  of  the  choir,  fol- 
lowed by  the  helmeted  ' '  Noble  Guard, "  ermined 
cardinals,  empurpled  monsignori,  and  a  few 
favored  spectators  in  deep  black.  In  the  fore- 
ground, majestic  in  form  and  attitude,  stood  St. 
j\Iark  upon  his  pedestal,  with  outstretched  hand 
pointing  to  the  mural  recess  far  above  the  tessel- 
lated pavement,  and  revealed  by  a  solitary  taper 
inside,  where  a  departed  pope  sleeps  until  his 
successor  claims  his  place.  At  every  one  of  these 
rites,  for  centuries  past,  the  inexorable  hand  of  the 
marble  apostle  relegates  to  rest  the  marble  pontiff. 
No  such  startling  realism  can  be  offered  by  the 
flatness  of  paint  and  sheen  of  gilding  in  the  Greek 
Church.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  music  of  the 
latter  is  far  grander  and  more  artistic  than  that  of 
the  Roman  Church  ;  and  the  habiliments  of  the 
priests,  the  details  of  the  service,  and  the  devout- 
ness    of  the   people  make  an    effect    superior    in 


MOSCOW.  299 


grace,  dignity,  and  impressiveness.  It  would  re- 
quire a  volume  to  describe  the  relics  and  sacerdo- 
tal ornaments  which  we  saw  in  the  Church  of  the 
Assumption  and  others  within  the  Kremlin. 
Prominent  among  them  was  a  book  of  gospels 
presented  by  the  mother  of  Peter  the  Great,  in 
binding  of  solid  gold  studded  with  precious 
stones,  valued  at  /'50,ooo  ;  it  weighs  one  hun- 
dred pounds,  and  requires  two  men  to  lift  it. 
We  were  carried  back  to  the  days  of  the  Emperor 
Constantine  when  we  looked  at  the  great  gold 
cross  incrusted  with  emeralds,  rubies,  etc.,  which 
belonged  to  him,  and  pageants  of  all  earthly 
pomp  were  figured  in  the  coronation-crowns  and 
gorgeous  vestments  of  patriarchs  and  bishops. 
The  latter  are  principally  in  the  sacristy  of  the 
Holy  Synod  ;  chief  among  them  is  a  crimson- 
velvet  robe  worn  by  the  patriarchs  of  ^Moscow 
when  they  were  consecrated,  thickly  embroidered 
with    pearls    and   precious  stones,    and    plates   of 


300  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


gold  with  sacred  devices  in  7iieno  work  are  inter- 
spersed, making  the  entire  weight  of  the  vestment 
fifty-four  pounds.  Ivan  the  Terrible,  one  of  the 
worst  of  the  early  Tsars,  presented  it  in  expiation 
of  the  murder  of  his  own  son  ! 

Very  many  of  the  sacred  vestments  and  vessels 
are  expiatory  offerings  of  sovereigns,  or  gifts  to 
prove  their  piety.  Some  of  the  robes  are  covered 
with  pictorial  representations  of  the  whole  sacred 
drama,  from  the  Annunciation  to  the  Ascen- 
sion. 

The  mitres  are  like  domes  surmounted  by  or- 
nate crosses  ;  one  of  them  has  a  ground  of  blue 
damask,  bordered  with  ermine  ;  the  Saviour,  the 
Virgin,  and  numerous  saints,  in  gold,  pearls,  and 
stones,  decorate  the  surface,  and  inscriptions  in 
pearls  fill  the  intervening  spaces.  Two  of  them  run 
thus  :  "Look  down  upon  us  from  Thy  heavens,  O 
Lord  !"  "  T  put  all  my  confidence  in  thee,  Mother 
of    God  ;  take   me   under    thy    holy    protection." 


MOSCOM\  301 


All  the  precious  stones  added  to  this  mitre  give 
it  the  weight  of  five  and  a  half  pounds. 

I  pass  by  the  beautiful  crosses  of  every  sort — the 
pectorals,  the  altar-crosses,  and  those  carried  in 
processions  with  banners  of  such  bulk  and  won- 
drous color  and  design  as  never  are  seen  out  of 
Russia  ;  but  I  pause  a  moment  at  the  glass  cases 
within  which  are  the  rare  and  \oy e\y  panagias,  or 
pectoral  images  worn  b}-  bishops.  Some  of  them 
are  of  enamelled  gold  ornamented  with  rubies 
and  pearls,  and  cameo  figures  of  saints  in  the 
centre  ;  another  is  a  sardonyx  nearl}'  four  inches 
long,  cut  in  three  strata, — on  the  upper  one  being 
the  Virgin  and  Child,  in  Byzantine  design  ;  a  third 
is  a  superb  ruby  engraved  with  the  Annunciation, 
set  in  gold  and  diamonds  ;  and  the  fourth,  a 
jasper  encircled  with  colored  jewels,  presents  a 
bas-relief  of  the  ^Madonna  among  clouds,  with 
arms  upraised  in  prayer. 

Before   leavini^    the  churches    of   the  Kremlin, 


3© 2  jeUSS/AJV  DAYS. 


the  marvel  and  the  beauty  of  which  I  have  but 
touched  with  the  tip  of  a  flying  wing,  I  return  for 
a  moment  to  the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption, 
where  I  must  mention  a  miracle-working  Virgin, 
attributed  to  St.  Luke.  It  found  its  way  hither 
from  Kief  in  the  twelfth  century,  is  believed  to 
have  forced  the  flight  of  Tamerlane  from  Russia, 
and  its  jewels,  estimated  at  ^^4 5,000  (one  emerald 
alone  being  worth  ;f  10,000),  gleam  in  the  twi- 
light of  the  edifice  with  an  almost  supernatural 
light. 

At  the  approach  of  the  French  army  all  the 
most  precious  articles  from  the  churches  were 
secreted  by  the  priests  ;  but  nevertheless  the  sol- 
diers carried  off  from  this  one  alone  five  tons  of 
silver  and  five  hundred  pounds  in  gold.  Oblong 
tombs  of  patriarchs  and  bishops  stand  around  the 
walls  ;  those  most  highly  venerated  are  in  the  four 
corners,  the  place  of  honor  here  as  in  the  Orient  ; 
without  effigy  or  sculpture,   these  sarcophagi  re- 


Cathedral  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel— In  the 
Kremlin. 


304  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

semble,  as  Gautier  said,  ''great  trunks  made  for 
the  journey  of  eternity. " 

Turning  from  the  splendor  of  these  "lamps  of 
sacrifice,"  we  drove  to  the  spacious  Foundling 
Hospital,  which  stands  in  its  own  pretty  park.  We 
sent  our  cards  to  the  Superior,  who  received  us 
courteously,  and  conversed  in  fluent  French  while 
she  escorted  us  through  the  well-ordered  establish- 
ment. The  rooms  are  all  of  great  size,  clean  and 
airy,  but  very  simply  and  scantily  furnished.  In 
the  first  one  a  number  of  neatly-dressed  children, 
from  five  to  ten  years  old,  were  at  dinner.  They 
rose  and  saluted  us  like  little  ladies  and  gentlemen 
as  they  were — orphans,  we  were  told,  of  good  birth 
and  property,  but  without  relatives,  and  therefore 
sent  here  until  old  enough  for  school-education. 

We  then  walked  through  five  or  six  long  rooms, 
in  each  of  which  there  were  at  least  sixty  babies 
— the  "foundlings,"  proper.  Only  two  of  them 
could  be  called  pretty  ;  and  their  unattractiveness 


MOSCOW 


305 


of  type  was  emphasized  by  the  look  of  weary  im- 
becihty  and  old  age  that  many  new-born  infants 
wear.  Sixteen  thousand  are  received  every  year  ; 
about  a  third  are  illegitimate,  and  the  remainder 
are  brought  by  parents  too  poor  to  take  care  of 
them. 

Their  tiny  cribs  were  ranged  in  two  long  rows 
down  the  centre  of  the  rooms  ;  and  in  front  of  them 
stood  two  rows  of  nurses,  wearing  short  white 
sleeves,  many  strings  of  beads  on  their  bare  necks. 
and  high  white  caps  from  which  hung  streamers 
of  red  or  blue  ribbons.  Russian  nurses  wear 
blue  when  the  baby  in  charge  is  a  boy,  and  red 
when  it  is  a  girl.  These  peasant-women  were  in 
gj'cinde  tenue  that  day,  as  it  was  Sunday,  when  vis- 
itors are  expected  (the  every-day  dress  is  doubtless 
less  coquettish),  but  their  irregular  Calmuck  feat- 
ures were  stolid  and  unresponsive.  Those  who 
had  not  babies  at  their  breasts  bowed  very  low, 
accordmg  to  the  fashion  of  the  countr}-,  as  we  ap- 


3o6  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


proached.  The  Matron  was  anxious  to  exhibit 
every  part  of  the  institution,  and  we  could  not 
with  poHteness  decHne ;  and  thus  we  were  shown 
the  chapel,  where  the  infants  are  baptized  imme- 
diately on  arrival,  if  that  rite  has  not  been  pre- 
viously performed  ;  the  book  in  which  their  num- 
bers and  names  are  recorded,  when  a  correspond- 
ing label  is  tied  around  the  infant  neck  ;  baths  of 
copper  lined  with  thick  flannel  ;  presses  full  of 
coarse  but  soft  linen,  and  down-pillows  on  which 
they  are  dressed.  Excellent  ph}sicians  are  pro- 
vided, and  every  comfort  for  the  little  waifs  dur- 
ing the  four  weeks  of  their  stay  ;  after  that  they 
are  sent,  together  with  their  nurses,  to  the  villages 
where  the  latter  belong.  About  two  rubles  a 
month  (from  a  dollar  to  a  dollar  and  a  half)  are 
allowed  for  their  maintenance,  but  more  than  half 
of  them  die  from  the  rigor  of  the  climate  and  un- 
suitable food. 

With  all  reverence    for  the  gentle  humanity  of 


MOSCOli- 


307 


this  hospital,  the  sight  of  these  helpless,  homeless 
little  beings  was  most  pitiful.  The  four  weeks 
within  those  sheltering  walls  are  doubtless  to  very 
many  the  least  wretched  of  their  lives. 

RUSSIAN    MONASTIC    INSTITUTIONS. 

Monasteries  and  convents  are  much  alike  every- 
where since  they  have  ceased  to  be  receptacles  of 
learning  or  refuges  from  outside  barbarism  ;  but  in 
order  to  compare  those  in  Russia  with  others  in 
Western  Europe,  we  visited  two  of  the  oldest  and 
most  revered.  The  Devichi  Convent  in  ]\Ioscow 
has  been  for  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  a  sanct- 
uary for  Tsarinas  and  other  high-born  ladies,  many 
of  whom  are  buried  within  its  fortressed  walls. 
Passing  through  a  grand  gateway,  we  entered  a 
cemetery  of  tombs  more  or  less  pretentious,  in- 
closed in  gilded  iron  railings,  and  guarded  la- 
crosses and  images  of  saints.  Intermingletl  are 
several    churches    in    the  usual    ornate    st\le,    the 


3o8  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

dwellings  of  the  nuns,  and  simpler  graves  in  every 
available  spot,  abundant  flowers  on  the  surface, 
but  the  ''conqueror  worm"'  beneath,  revelling  in 
his  own  domain.  It  was  the  hour  for  morning 
Mass  in  the  principal  chapel,  and  we  obtained 
places  near  the  choir,  which  was  composed  entirely 
of  nuns.  Their  voices  had  neither  sweetness  nor 
power,  and  they  were  very  unattractive  women, 
sallow,  dark,  and  of  ascetic  pallor.  Perhaps  their 
hideous  veils  were  partly  responsible  ;  few  faces 
could  stand  the  test  of  thick  black  serge,  standing 
high  and  rigid  on  the  head  like  an  iron  crown, 
and  falling  in  long  folds  over  a  dress  of  the  same 
funereal  character. 

An  abbess  received  us  in  her  simple  parlor  with 
much  courtesy,  and  led  us  the  usual  round  of  the 
pharmacy,  the  hospital,  and  the  refectory.  The 
nuns  whom  we  saw  without  veils  had  pleasant 
faces  ;  the  wooden  floors  were  clean,  tables  and 
beds  covered  with  white  linen,  pictured  saints  and 


MOSCOli\  309 


burning  lamps  in  every  room,  but  no  evidence  of 
occupation  except  in  the  work-room,  where  were 
many  specimens  of  embroidery  on  mushn,  not 
original  and  rather  expensive.  In  the  dark  cryj)t- 
like  refectory  were  long,  narrow  tables  set  with  the 
conventual  coarse  linen  and  iron  spoons,  and  with 
bread  of  dark  unsifted  wheat,  not  unpalatable 
and  doubtless  more  wholesome  than  the  fine 
quality  now  disapproved  by  medical  science. 

The  abbess  proudly  led  us  through  a  cavernous 
brick  passage  to  the  kitchen,  which  was  in  fine 
order  for  exhibition  that  day,  as  it  offered  the  un- 
usual luxury  of  a  meat-soup  and  an  insipid  pink 
jelly,  in  honor  of  the  fete-day  of  the  Superior. 

We  asked  whether  the  nuns  visit  the  sick  or  in- 
struct children  ;  and  the  reply  was,  "  No  :  they  say 
their  prayers  and  embroider."  Thus  the  pallid 
lives  of  these  well-born  ladies  are  not  even  bright- 
ened by  the  gracious  tints  of  charity  and  good 
works. 


3IO  RUSSIAX  DAYS. 


Among  other  gentle  amenities  of  the  French 
invasion  was  the  attempt  to  destro}-  this  convent 
l)y  putting  barrels  of  gunpowder  in  the  crypt  of 
the  principal  church  and  igniting  a  stream  of  spir- 
its which  they  directed  towards  it.  Several  coura- 
geous nuns  succeeded  in  extinguishing  the  flames. 

We  started  at  eight  oclock  one  morning  to  take 
the  train  for  Troitsa,  in  order  to  pass  a  few  hours 
at  the  celebrated  monastery  of  St.  Sergius.  It 
was  always  a  pleasure,  except  for  the  atrocious 
pavements,  to  drive  through  the  streets  of  this 
fascinating  city.  Moujiks  alone  were  astir,  more 
in  harmony  with  the  scene  than  their  conven- 
tional masters.  No  women  were  visible,  and  in 
truth  the  old  Asiatic  habit  of  seclusion  still  retains 
a  certain  influence.  We  passed  the  large  white 
station  of  the  Siberia  railway,  and  shuddered  at 
thought  of  the  agonized  exiles  to  whom  it  has 
been  a  portal  of  despair. 

Lasciate  og/ii  speranza,  r<oi  cli*  entrate  gut. 


.voscoir 


From  another  station  Dur  train  took  us  north- 
ward forty  miles  through  a  pretty  undulating 
country  marked  by  villages,  gardens,  and  green- 
domed  churches.  The  first  appearance  of  the 
''holy,  ancient,  and  monastic  pile"  is  very  strik- 
ing;  on  a  slightly  elevated  hill  a  quadrilateral, 
with  very  high  white  walls  twenty  feet  thick,  and 
eight  fortified  towers,  incloses  an  imposing  group 
of  domed  churches  resplendent  with  the  usual 
decorations.  It  was  built  more  than  five  hun- 
dred years  ago  by  St.  Sergius— a  man  so  eminent 
for  piety  that  potentates  came  from  afar  to  seek  his 
blessing,  and  native  sovereigns  in  return  enriched 
the  monastery  with  large  grants  of  land.  In  the 
last  century  it  owned  a  hundred  thousand  serfs,  and 
the  treasures  within  are  unaccountable.  It  with- 
stood several  sieges  of  Tartars  and  Poles,  was  a 
refuge  for  innumerable  pilgrims,  as  well  as  for 
Peter  the  Great  during  the  insurrection  of  the 
Streltzi,  and   fortunatelv  the    French   never  found 


312  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 

their  way  here — all  which  exemptions  are  attributed 
to  the  miracle-working  portrait  of  St.  Sergius. 
Within  the  walls  is  a  miniature  city,  more  brilliantly 
Oriental  than  the  Orient  itself :  ten  churches,  the 
palaces  of  the  Tsar  and  the  Archimandrite,  the 
refectory,  cells  of  the  monks,  and  treasure-rooms 
are  planted  without  regularity,  at  any  convenient 
point.  There  are  no  cloisters,  but  no  hue  of  the 
rainbow  is  lacking :  bright  blue,  red,  pale  green, 
and  profuse  gold  inside,  and  outside,  under  the 
blue  of  the  sky,  the  gold  of  the  sun  and  the 
opaque  white  of  the  walls  make  a  dizzy  riot  of 
color  which,  here  as  in  Moscow,  when  gently 
toned  by  time  is  continually  renewed. 

Service  was  proceeding  in  the  Church  of  the 
Trinity,  and  we  made  our  way,  through  the  most 
picturesque  and  evil-smelling  crowd  we  had  yet 
encountered,  to  the  most  weird  of  all  interiors. 
The  same  long  rows  of  unearthly  figures  on  gold 
backgrounds    stretch    in     perspective    down    the 


MOSCO IV. 


3^^ 


walls,  stand  on  pillars,  or  start  like  phantoms 
from  angles,  revealed  by  a  sudden  light  and 
shrinking  back  as  it  retires.  The  Ikonostas, 
which  rises  to  the  vaulted  ceiling,  is  incomparably 
rich  in  precious  stones  around  the  aureoles  of 
sainted  hierarchs  ;  in  close  proximity  is  the  silver- 
gilt  tomb  of  St.  Sergius,  glittering  with  lamps  and 
a  canopy  supported  by  four  columns  all  of  the 
same  metal  :  around  it  knelt  a  group  of  pilgrims 
with  long  white  beards  and  some  noble  faces 
illumined  with  faith  and  fervor ;  desolate  beggars 
in  brown  rags  with  yellow  lights,  their  legs  bound 
in  rags  strapped  on  like  a  classic  cothurnus; 
moujiks  in  dull  reds  and  blues,  prostrating,  sign- 
ing the  cross,  kissing  the  sacred  tomb  ;  while 
above  them  scintillated  the  prismatic  hues  of 
rubies,  sapphires,  and  diamonds,  irradiating  here 
and  there  an  uplifted  head  or  a  suppliant  hand 
— a  most  typical  picture  which  nothing  in  West- 
ern  Europe  can   repeat.      We  visited    the    rooms 


314  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


where  monks  were  copying  with  patient  fideHty 
pictures  of  saints  in  colored  draperies  and  golden 
glories,  the  shop  where  they  are  sold,  and  the 
treasuries  of  priestly  paraphernalia  presented  by 
high  personages,  and  not  inferior  to  those  in  the 
Kremlin.  Again  are  vestments  embroidered  with 
pearls  and  precious  stones,  forming  flowers,  figures, 
and  Sclavonic  inscriptions  ;  Bibles  and  liturgies  en- 
amelled in  arabesque  patterns  overlaid  with  rubies, 
emeralds,  and  sapphires  of  great  size  and  splendor  ; 
sacred  vessels  of  gold  with  rims  of  diamonds  ; 
strings  of  pearls,  and  crowns,  crosses,  caskets, 
vases,  chandeliers  :  a  Nile-like  overflow  of  riches, 
each  object  the  expression  of  a  spiritual  sentiment 
— of  gratitude,  of  faith,  or  of  remorse. 

But  we  could  not  linger  in  these  rooms  ;  the 
windows  seemed  to  have  been  sealed  for  centuries, 
and  to  the  asphyxiating  atmosphere  was  added  the 
intolerable  odor  from  an  unwashed  crowd.  It  is 
said  that  cholera  and   plague   have  never  entered 


MOSCOH\  315 


these  holy  walls  ;  and  if  that  is  true,  Science  may 
as  well  burn  its  books  on  cleanliness  and  ventila- 
tion. The  fraternity  live  the  same  self-centred 
lives  as  the  nuns  of  the  convent  Devichi  ;  painting 
takes  the  place  of  embroidery — voila  tout! 

A  few  miles  distant  are  some  old  catacombs  in- 
habited by  men  who  have  vowed  seclusion  from 
the  light  of  day  and  the  face  of  man  ;  needless  to 
say,  we  did  not  disturb  their  enjoyment. 

IN    GENERAL. 

There  seems  no  end  to  the  sights  of  Moscow  : 
museums,  private  picture-galleries,  drives  to  parks, 
and  excursions  outside,  as  well  as  theatres  where, 
even  when  ignorant  of  the  language,  the  costumes 
and  manners  of  the  country  will  entertain. 

The  Gostinnoi  Dvor,  or  Bazaar,  is  a  labyrinth  of 
shops  as  small  as  those  on  the  Ponte  Vecchio  in 
Florence,  filled  with  cheap  wares  from  all  the 
provinces  of  the  empire  ;   in   the  silversmiths'  row 


3  I  6  Ni  ^  SSI  AN  DA  VS. 

are  pretty  trifles  for  souvenirs,  for  which,  however, 
one  must  bargain  or  pay  extortionately. 

Very  near  the  Bazaar  is  the  most  extraordinary 
church  in  Moscow  ;  nor  does  another  hke  it  exist 
in  any  part  of  the  world.  At  evening  it  seems  a 
fantastic  mirage  or  the  architecture  of  cloud-land 
painted  by  sunset.  It  is  a  sort  of  Hindoo  pagoda, 
containing  nine  chapels  linked  together  internally 
by  a  maze  of  narrow  corridors  ;  it  has  no  centre, 
and  each  part  is  different  from  and  independent 
of  all  the  others.  One  cupola  is  carved  like  an 
artichoke,  another  like  a  pineapple,  a  third  resem- 
bles a  melon,  a  fourth  a  Turkish  turban,  and  five 
more  are  of  various  designs, — all  colored,  as  well 
as  the  body  of  the  edifice,  with  the  entire  chro- 
matic scale,  enhanced  by  silver  and  gold.  This 
wild  creation,  which  is  called  the  Church  of  St. 
Basil,  the  patron  saint  of  idiots,  or  the  Vasili 
Blajennoi,  was  another  of  the  expiatory  offerings 
of  John  the  Terrible  for  the  murder  of  his  son — 


^253^ 


Church  of  St.  Basil — Moscow. 


3l8  RUSSIAX  DAYS. 

much  on  the  principle  of  the  monumental  effigies 
with  folded  hands 

"  Who  seek  for  life-long  evil  to  atone 
By  ceaseless  orisons  in  stone." 

The  climax  of  all  the  dazzling  and  half-barbaric 
opulence  of  historic  and  hereditary  souvenirs  is 
found  in  the  Imperial  Treasury.  From  the  palace 
of  the  Tsars  an  immense  staircase  closed  by  a  trel- 
lised  iron  gate  leads  to  this  receptacle  of  gifts 
from  sultans  and  shahs,  tributes  of  alliance  with 
Avild  Asiatic  chiefs,  tokens  of  commercial  traffic, 
— in  short,  the  assembled  Lares  and  Penates  of  all 
centuries  past. 

We  enter  first  the  Armory,  where  four  sentinels 
in  old  Sclavonic  armor,  mounted  on  strangely- 
caparisoned  horses,  never  leave  their  posts,  but 
guard  with  perpetual  vigilance  the  trophies,  flags, 
standards,  and  fire-arms  which  are  grouped  on 
walls  and  around  pillars  that  support  the  vaulted 


MOSCOM'.  319 


roof.  I  have  seen  ihe  tinest  armories  in  Europe ; 
but  none  equals  the  interest  of  this,  because  it 
bears  the  stamp  of  a  different  civiHzation.  The 
art  is  lost  of  making  the  damascened  blades  and 
helmets  accumulated  here  ;  the  banners  are  most 
pictorial  and  superb  :  one  of  the  sixteenth  century 
exhibits  on  a  star-spangled  field  an  image  of 
Christ  with  a  host  of  saints  and  seraphim  on 
horseback  (!)  and  a  cloud  of  heavenly  witnesses  in 
the  background.  There  are  coats  of  mail  en- 
graved with  texts  from  the  Koran  ;  scimitars  and 
daggers  with  handles  incrusted  with  turquoises 
and  precious  stones. 

In  another  room  we  salute  the  entire  Romanoff 
family,  with  whose  positive  features  and  tall,  mus- 
cular forms  we  have  now  become  familiar.  Peter 
the  Great  was  our  favorite;  his  bluft",  swarthy- 
face,  keen  black  eyes,  and  resolute  mouth  show 
the  indomitable  will,  overflow  of  brain,  and  rough 
self-assertion  that  rank  him  as  Ursus  [Major  in   the 


320  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


planisphere  of  sovereigns.  Every  object  that  illus- 
trates his  life  is  interesting,  from  his  big  boots  to 
the  miniature  carriage  with  mica  windows  in 
which  as  a  child  he  was  driven  around  the 
paternal  park  ;  and  we  admire  for  his  sake,  even 
more  than  all  the  other  resplendent  crowns  in 
this  treasury,  the  one  he  had  made  for  his  peasant- 
wife,  which  contains  2536  diamonds,  besides  a 
ruby  of  almost  inestimable  value. 

The  room  of  royal  insignia  contains  an  op- 
pressive mass  of  gold,  precious  stones,  and  gor- 
geous apparel.  There  are  the  Kazan  and  Astra- 
khan crowns  before  they  were  united  with  Russia, 
and  that  of  Vladimir  Monomaque,  whose  wife 
was  the  daughter  of  Harold,  king  of  England,  at 
the  time  of  the  battle  of  Hastings — compounds  of 
pearls  and  jewels  counted  by  the  hundreds,  and 
held  together  by  filigree  gold  with  Greek  crosses 
at  the  top. 

The  sceptre  of  Vladimir,  about  a  yard  in  length, 


MOSCOIV. 


contains  270  large  diamonds  and  300  rubies  and 
emeralds.  Another  crown  possesses  900  dia- 
monds, and  the  cross  rises  from  an  immense  ruby. 
Among  the  regalia  now  used  at  coronations  is  a 
girdle  of  large  diamonds  ;  a  sceptre  containing  the 
great  diamond  Lazaref,  one  of  the  largest  known  ; 
the  emperor's  crown,  made  entirely  of  diamonds, 
a  row  of  immense  pearls,  and  an  uncut  ruby  an 
inch  long.  The  empress's  crown  is  equally  rich, 
but  smaller,  and  is  fastened  on  with  diamond 
hair-pins.  A  curious  relic  is  the  chain  of 
Michael,  the  first  of  the  Romanoffs,  composed  of 
ninety-nine  rings,  each  of  which  is  engraved  with 
one  of  his  titles,  accompanied  by  a  short  prayer. 

The  beauty  of  workmanship  in  all  these  baubles 
is  as  remarkable  as  their  value. 

The  velvet  state  robes  are  as  ornate  as  those  in 
the  sacristy  of  the  Synod,  and  thrones  of  ancient 
date  might  verify  the  biblical  stories  of  "King 
Solomon  in  all    his  glory. "     One  that  came  from 


322  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


Persia  is  of  ivory  studded  with  875  diamonds, 
1223  rubies,  besides  turquoises  and  pearls  innu- 
merable. One  great  room  is  devoted  to  man}- 
hundred  articles  of  all  ages  and  countries,  for 
state  use  and  decoration,  in  the  way  of  pitchers, 
goblets,  vases,  candelabra,  etc.,  of  gold  and  silver 
with  every  wild  variation  of  ornamentation,  high 
and  low  relief 

In  view  of  the  accumulated  wealth  in  churches, 
palaces,  monasteries,  and  treasuries  throughout 
the  empire,  Monte  Cristo's  caves  and  Schehere- 
zade's  fables  appear  very  credible  possibilities  ;  and 
though  tolerably  familiar  with  similar  collections 
in  other  countries,  we  said  a  few  days  later,  as  we 
sauntered  through  the  Green  Vaults  at  Dresden, 
"There  is  nothing  really  splendid  outside  of 
Russia."  However,  everything  has  its  point  of 
advantage  ;  we  were  sated  with  splendor  ;  we  de- 
clared we  never  wanted  to  see  another  diamond  ; 
and    swinging  the   pendulum  to   the  extreme   tip 


AfOSCOH\  323 


of  its  arc,  we   exclaimed,  "  Give  us  love  in  a  hut, 
with  water  and  a  crust  !"' 

No  one  can  study  Moscow  for  even  a  few  days 
without  feeling  an  interest  and  admiration  that 
few  cities  can  inspire.  Others  are  palimpsests  of 
change  and  perhaps  progression  ;  ^Moscow  re- 
sists new  inscriptions  and  clings  to  its  sacred  past. 
We  were  more  than  ever  sympathetic  with  it  when 
we  looked  down  from  the  "Sparrows"  Hill,'"  four 
miles  distant,  on  the  broad  panorama  of  its  stately 
architecture  with  its  golden  fringe  of  minarets  and 
domes.  This  was  the  view  which  first  met  the  eyes 
of  Napoleon  when  he  stood  on  this  hill,  seventy- 
four  years  ago,  and  watched  the  advance  of  his 
eager  battalions  from  three  different  points.  But 
no  Russian  forces  appeared  to  contest  the  way,  and 
an  ominous  stillness  pervaded  the  air.  The  em- 
peror galloped  with  his  staff  to  one  of  the  barriers 
and  halted  there,  expecting  to  receive  the  keys  of 
the  citv.      He  might  as  well  have  waited  for  her- 


324  RUSSIAN  DAYS. 


aids  from  a  city  of  the  dead  :  three  hundred  thou- 
sand inhabitants  were  flying  northward,  and  only 
sufferers  in  hospitals  and  prisoners  in  dungeons 
remained  to  mock  the  entrance  of  "Az  grande 
armce.''  Then  began  the  holocaust  previously 
prepared  by  the  Muscovites  of  their  beloved  and 
revered  city  ;  the  conflagration  lasted  three  days, 
and  the  mortified  invader  found  himself  the  mark 
of  the  scorn  and  reproach  of  all  Europe.  The 
familiar  details  of  the  tragedy  are  recalled  by  the 
traveller  with  painful  realism. 

We  returned  to  St.  Petersburg  for  a  day,  and 
then  took  the  rail  for  Berlin.  As  far  as  the  German 
frontier  at  Eydkuhnen,  twenty-four  hours,  the  car- 
riages, the  stations,  and  rail  afford  entire  com- 
fort, though  the  scenery  has  no  interest ;  the  re- 
maining twelve  hours  the  railway  is  very  rough. 

Our  Russian  Days  had  ceased  to  be,  and  our 
Norway  Nights    were    poems    of  the    past.     Sun, 


MO  SCO  H' 


325 


moon,  and  stars  resumed  possession  of  the  sky  ; 
we  had  come  back  to  the  tyranny  of  dates  and 
divisions  of  time  ;  the  Hour  to  Retire  walked  in 
with  his  lamp,  the  Hour  to  Rise  threw  open  the 
window.  No  longer,  for  the  year  of  grace  1886, 
could  be  found  the  gladsome  inconsequence  of 
'■'■  Theiire  qui  plait  a  voire  Afajesie." 


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